SUBJECT OF REALITY AND UNIVERSE AS DISCUSSED IN SCIENCE AND ADWAITHA VEDANTA.
Recently I read a book titled "The Grand Design", by Stephen Hawking, one of the greatest thinkers of our time. In that book, he tells us about the origin of the universe in which we exist, and opines, that there is no necessity to believe that the universe is created by a creator or God. This is also the opinion of the most of the scientific community. He also tells us about reality according to science.
The above book provoked a desire in me to project the views of the Sages in our country, who also talked about the universe and reality in the distant past. I am of the opinion, by having the views of science and that of sages on the subject of Universe and Reality, side by side, a true picture emerges and removes all sorts of cob webs in our mind, about the above subject.
First of all, let me put forth the views of science as propounded by Stephen Hawking in the above referred book. Here, I will enumerate briefly his views as understood by me.
At the very outset, he tells us that the subject of Universe and Reality belongs to philosophy. But, the philosophy has failed to find an answer. Further, he remarks, philosophy is dead. This may be true of Western Philosophy. But it is not true of Indian Philosophy, especially, the philosophy of Shankara's School. Continuing, he informs us that Modern Physics changed the entire thinking on Reality. It propounds that there are different realities. For example, for a Gold fish in a bowl, the bowl appears curved in nature. For a human being, from a commonsense point of view, Reality appears differently. For example, chair is a reality in the ordinary sense. Mr Hawking says, all these are true in their own situations. From the point of view of science, it is Model dependent Reality. There is no Model-Independent Reality.
Coming to the subject of Universe, science argues that our Universe is governed by laws. These laws can be expressed in the form of mathematical model of theory that explains every aspect of the Universe. But there is no single model or theory that explains everything about the Universe. There is a network of theories called M-theory. Each theory in M-theory explains only certain aspects within certain range or parameter. No single theory explains all the forces in nature, the particle that feels those forces, and the frame work of space and time in which all plays out.
According to science, the Universe began 13.7 billion years ago and humans are of a recent origin. Till 1920, Scientists including Einstein thought that the Universe is static and it always existed. But Edwin Hubble in 1924 using his 100" telescope discovered that all galaxies are moving away from us. He established this fact from the spectrum light emitted by the Galaxies. He observed that the spectrum light became dimmer and dimmer. That means, that the Universe is expanding. This discovery proved that our Universe has a beginning.
Scientists say if the above is true, then the Universe must have been smaller in the past. By extrapolating the distant past, all the matter and energy in the Universe would have been concentrated in a very tiny region of unimaginable density and temperature. Further, if we go back, there would be a time when all began, the event now, they the scientists call the BIG BANG.
According to the M-theory, there are 10 to the power of 500 universes with their own laws. Our Universe is one of them. Further all the Universes are fine tuned. It means to say, there may be different laws for different Universes and these laws are fine tuned in such a way that allows all that exist, the way it is in those Universes. How do scientists justify the existence of human beings on our planet? They say, the fact of our being restricts the circumstances of the kind of environment in which we find ourselves. This is called the weak anthropic principle. It is interesting to know that they have confessed, were it not for a series of startling coincidences in the process of physical laws, it seems, life as we know today would not have come into being. This confession on the part of such a renowned scientist like Stephen Hawking appears to be a weak argument in his theory of Universe and Reality.
To sum up, the conclusion of science and scientists so far, there is no hundred percent satisfactory explanation to the creation and existence of our Universe. But, they hope to find one unifying theory one day which explains everything. That day, they think, will be the death knell to the beliefs of majority of people in the existence of a creator or God who many believe created our universe.
Life presents three independent aspects, commonly recognized as three states of the soul, namely - walking, dream, and deep sleep. In order to find what Reality is, we have to examine all the three states. Waking experiences constitute two-thirds of our life and one-third of our life's experiences is represented by the other states. Modern scientists presume that Reality is in the waking state only and the other two states are of no consequence. Vedanta says you misjudge.
What is Reality? Vedanta defines Reality as one that persists in all aspects or states of life. In waking state, there is a world outside of us. This world consists of all that we experience through our sense organs. There are Mountains, Oceans, Rivers, Universes, Galaxies, Stars etc., including our body, mind and intellect. That means to say, it includes our thoughts, imaginations, and ideas, and all of our Arts. This waking state is so extensive. Vedanta looks at the waking state as a whole in its investigation and not at the things that are there in the state. On observation we find that everything is continually changing. The world outside of us is in a state of continuous flux. Medical science tells us that the cells in our body are fully replaced once in twelve years. Our thoughts, our ideas are also changing accordingly. What testifies to this change? There must be a witnessing principle which remains constant. When a man says "in my childhood I was fond of cycling." there is a vast change between the 'ego' as a child and the same as a man. Every part of his mind and body has altered in the meanwhile. But his memory enables him to call up his childhood experiences and unify the whole as belonging to him. This would be impossible and illusive had his witnessing principle been also subject to change.
Again in waking, conscious states may and do change. But how can what testifies to the change, change? Further, the witnessing principle is simple and indivisible and it cannot be objectified in any manner. It cannot be conceived as liable to change. For example, anger can give place to humor, hope to fear, pain to pleasure etc. But if the witnessing principle could change, what would it change to? From conscious state to unconscious one! If we have to make this assertion, we have to posit a witness of this unconscious state. This witnessing principle is the concrete of concretes. It lies deep in our nature, its presence is uninterrupted, even when our mind is torn by violent feelings sometimes. The witness is there all the time and when the storm has blown over and the mental balance is restored, memory recalls all the past only on the authority of this witness.
Now on to the dream state. This is independent of the waking. There is no connection between the two states. This is because, there is no common time and space between the two. In waking there is a common time between two events in the form of duration. One can say "I took my food at eleven O'clock and left for the Railway Station and reached at twelve noon." These two events are connected by a common time. But can someone say "I went to bed at 10 P.M. and reached my dream after five minutes? No, it is not possible. This shows, the two states are not on the same time series and hence they are independent states. Further, whatever things that are there in the waking stage cannot cross-over to dream state and vice-versa. Many of the things of waking stage may appear in dream world. But they are appearances only. This we come to know when the dream is stultified by waking.
There is a common belief, that our waking mind gives rise to dream state. It is not true. The waking mind is not creating a waking state and it is incapable of creating even a blade of grass. Then, how it can create a dream state? Waking intellect functions in an orderly way. It follows the law of cause and effect. In the dream world, there is no order. Most of the happenings in dream are Topsy-turvey. So, waking intellect is not involved in the creation of dreams.
There is no ego in the dream state. Most surprising thing is, this ego in the dream world never questions the reality of the dream. It functions as if the dream world is real. When we wake up, our dream including its ego disappears. Nevertheless, we are able to remember many events in the dream. How is it possible? It is possible due to the presence of 'witnessing principle' in dream. This witness in us, captures certain events of the dream and throws them into our waking intellect, thus giving the feeling to the waking ego as if the dream experience has happened to it.
Psychologists call the deep sleep state as an unconscious state. It is not correct. Real unconscious state is like that of a block of stone. There is no consciousness in stone. There is no possibility of its coming into a conscious state. Deep sleep is not of that type. There is no subject-object experience. Time and space are absent in it. We as we know ourselves are not there in deep sleep. But, it does not mean that we do not exist in that state. We are there in some other form. That is why, we are not scared to go to that state; on the other hand, we love to go to sleep. Vedanta says, it is the state of Ananda or bliss. When we get up from sleep, if someone asks us, how our sleep was, we reply it was pleasant, nice etc. We experience this intuitively. What exists there is that witnessing principle with one difference. There is no second thing to witness in sleep. Witnessing thing exists all by itself. According to Vedanta, this is our natural state. It is non-dual.
From an examination of three states, it is clearly established that there is a witnessing principle which persists in all the above states and it is really real. It is this REALITY which manifests as waking, dream and deep sleep.
Regarding universe or the world, Vedanta questions the existence of an objective world. What is this world? According to Vedanta, the world is nothing but the sum of all experiences we have through our sense organs. We have a body and five sense organs in it. We have an organ for seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and lastly for touching. Whatever we experience through them, constitute our world. Is there any other world apart from this? Definitely not. All these experiences are of our inner nature. Really speaking, there is no objective world. Further, when our sense organs become quite, there are no experiences, there is no world for us. Such a condition exists for us when our waking disappears. This everyone experiences daily. It is a fact when waking is there, the world is there for us. When there is no waking, there is no world. That which comes and goes cannot be real. It is only an appearance.
It is very difficult to believe that when waking state goes away, the world disappears for us. We have a strong feeling that we sleep in this world itself. Accepting this for argument's sake, if we think we are sleeping in this world, how should we describe this situation? WE have to say, we are sleeping and at the same time we are awake, since the world is in the waking only. This is absurd. hence we have to accept the conclusion that there is no world for us when the waking goes. Vedanta says that the world separated from waking is chimera. Hence that which appears an disappears cannot be true.
In conclusion, Vedanta's dicta is that there is an independent reality which is non-dual and the world in which we find ourselves is only an appearance of that reality. This is its final conclusion. Nevertheless, from the transactional point of view, we have to accept the reality of the world imposed by the society to function sanely and intelligently. Vedanta recognizes this.
______________________________________________________________
As told by Mr Chandrasekar.M. of Bengaluru. He can be contacted at 080 26678662.
According to the M-theory, there are 10 to the power of 500 universes with their own laws. Our Universe is one of them. Further all the Universes are fine tuned. It means to say, there may be different laws for different Universes and these laws are fine tuned in such a way that allows all that exist, the way it is in those Universes. How do scientists justify the existence of human beings on our planet? They say, the fact of our being restricts the circumstances of the kind of environment in which we find ourselves. This is called the weak anthropic principle. It is interesting to know that they have confessed, were it not for a series of startling coincidences in the process of physical laws, it seems, life as we know today would not have come into being. This confession on the part of such a renowned scientist like Stephen Hawking appears to be a weak argument in his theory of Universe and Reality.
To sum up, the conclusion of science and scientists so far, there is no hundred percent satisfactory explanation to the creation and existence of our Universe. But, they hope to find one unifying theory one day which explains everything. That day, they think, will be the death knell to the beliefs of majority of people in the existence of a creator or God who many believe created our universe.
VEDANTHIC VIEW:
Vedanta has a peculiar system of its own. Other philosophical systems speculate on the basis of walking life experiences exclusively, and theology upon faith and scriptures. They both agree in confining the application of reason to the facts of walking life. Physical science are limited both ways. externally to the smallest object, a sub-atomic particle and internally to the subject or the ego. They cannot pass beyond physics and psychology. Vedanta alone considers life in all its aspects, in our sleeping, dreaming, dreaming, and walking conditions. It claims that it succeeds in detecting absolute Reality which underlines all the manifestations of life and which is identical with life in its wideest sense. It is our duty to examine its claim and see how far it is true.Life presents three independent aspects, commonly recognized as three states of the soul, namely - walking, dream, and deep sleep. In order to find what Reality is, we have to examine all the three states. Waking experiences constitute two-thirds of our life and one-third of our life's experiences is represented by the other states. Modern scientists presume that Reality is in the waking state only and the other two states are of no consequence. Vedanta says you misjudge.
What is Reality? Vedanta defines Reality as one that persists in all aspects or states of life. In waking state, there is a world outside of us. This world consists of all that we experience through our sense organs. There are Mountains, Oceans, Rivers, Universes, Galaxies, Stars etc., including our body, mind and intellect. That means to say, it includes our thoughts, imaginations, and ideas, and all of our Arts. This waking state is so extensive. Vedanta looks at the waking state as a whole in its investigation and not at the things that are there in the state. On observation we find that everything is continually changing. The world outside of us is in a state of continuous flux. Medical science tells us that the cells in our body are fully replaced once in twelve years. Our thoughts, our ideas are also changing accordingly. What testifies to this change? There must be a witnessing principle which remains constant. When a man says "in my childhood I was fond of cycling." there is a vast change between the 'ego' as a child and the same as a man. Every part of his mind and body has altered in the meanwhile. But his memory enables him to call up his childhood experiences and unify the whole as belonging to him. This would be impossible and illusive had his witnessing principle been also subject to change.
Again in waking, conscious states may and do change. But how can what testifies to the change, change? Further, the witnessing principle is simple and indivisible and it cannot be objectified in any manner. It cannot be conceived as liable to change. For example, anger can give place to humor, hope to fear, pain to pleasure etc. But if the witnessing principle could change, what would it change to? From conscious state to unconscious one! If we have to make this assertion, we have to posit a witness of this unconscious state. This witnessing principle is the concrete of concretes. It lies deep in our nature, its presence is uninterrupted, even when our mind is torn by violent feelings sometimes. The witness is there all the time and when the storm has blown over and the mental balance is restored, memory recalls all the past only on the authority of this witness.
Now on to the dream state. This is independent of the waking. There is no connection between the two states. This is because, there is no common time and space between the two. In waking there is a common time between two events in the form of duration. One can say "I took my food at eleven O'clock and left for the Railway Station and reached at twelve noon." These two events are connected by a common time. But can someone say "I went to bed at 10 P.M. and reached my dream after five minutes? No, it is not possible. This shows, the two states are not on the same time series and hence they are independent states. Further, whatever things that are there in the waking stage cannot cross-over to dream state and vice-versa. Many of the things of waking stage may appear in dream world. But they are appearances only. This we come to know when the dream is stultified by waking.
There is a common belief, that our waking mind gives rise to dream state. It is not true. The waking mind is not creating a waking state and it is incapable of creating even a blade of grass. Then, how it can create a dream state? Waking intellect functions in an orderly way. It follows the law of cause and effect. In the dream world, there is no order. Most of the happenings in dream are Topsy-turvey. So, waking intellect is not involved in the creation of dreams.
There is no ego in the dream state. Most surprising thing is, this ego in the dream world never questions the reality of the dream. It functions as if the dream world is real. When we wake up, our dream including its ego disappears. Nevertheless, we are able to remember many events in the dream. How is it possible? It is possible due to the presence of 'witnessing principle' in dream. This witness in us, captures certain events of the dream and throws them into our waking intellect, thus giving the feeling to the waking ego as if the dream experience has happened to it.
Psychologists call the deep sleep state as an unconscious state. It is not correct. Real unconscious state is like that of a block of stone. There is no consciousness in stone. There is no possibility of its coming into a conscious state. Deep sleep is not of that type. There is no subject-object experience. Time and space are absent in it. We as we know ourselves are not there in deep sleep. But, it does not mean that we do not exist in that state. We are there in some other form. That is why, we are not scared to go to that state; on the other hand, we love to go to sleep. Vedanta says, it is the state of Ananda or bliss. When we get up from sleep, if someone asks us, how our sleep was, we reply it was pleasant, nice etc. We experience this intuitively. What exists there is that witnessing principle with one difference. There is no second thing to witness in sleep. Witnessing thing exists all by itself. According to Vedanta, this is our natural state. It is non-dual.
From an examination of three states, it is clearly established that there is a witnessing principle which persists in all the above states and it is really real. It is this REALITY which manifests as waking, dream and deep sleep.
Regarding universe or the world, Vedanta questions the existence of an objective world. What is this world? According to Vedanta, the world is nothing but the sum of all experiences we have through our sense organs. We have a body and five sense organs in it. We have an organ for seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and lastly for touching. Whatever we experience through them, constitute our world. Is there any other world apart from this? Definitely not. All these experiences are of our inner nature. Really speaking, there is no objective world. Further, when our sense organs become quite, there are no experiences, there is no world for us. Such a condition exists for us when our waking disappears. This everyone experiences daily. It is a fact when waking is there, the world is there for us. When there is no waking, there is no world. That which comes and goes cannot be real. It is only an appearance.
It is very difficult to believe that when waking state goes away, the world disappears for us. We have a strong feeling that we sleep in this world itself. Accepting this for argument's sake, if we think we are sleeping in this world, how should we describe this situation? WE have to say, we are sleeping and at the same time we are awake, since the world is in the waking only. This is absurd. hence we have to accept the conclusion that there is no world for us when the waking goes. Vedanta says that the world separated from waking is chimera. Hence that which appears an disappears cannot be true.
In conclusion, Vedanta's dicta is that there is an independent reality which is non-dual and the world in which we find ourselves is only an appearance of that reality. This is its final conclusion. Nevertheless, from the transactional point of view, we have to accept the reality of the world imposed by the society to function sanely and intelligently. Vedanta recognizes this.
______________________________________________________________
As told by Mr Chandrasekar.M. of Bengaluru. He can be contacted at 080 26678662.
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