By M.S.N. Menon (Organiser April 2008)
Is it because I am a Hindu bigot? Or, because I hate the minorities? More so, the Muslims? Dear Readers, if ever you thought so, you were mistaken. But I know that you have not seen me in this light. I am a nationalist. I love my country. I am proud of its past and of its great achievements. I am grateful to it all. And to my ancestors. They have given me pre-eminence among the peoples of the world. I am, therefore, concerned at the way the country is being led by a blind and ignorant leadership. For a thousand years we Hindus were under foreign rule. This is unprecedented in human history. The march of the greatest civilisation was arrested. Its roots were cut. And its people were silenced. Are we Hindus aware of the great damage that these thousand years of subjection have inflicted on us? We are not. Alas, even to enquire into it is taboo in our country! Why? Because, it is claimed, it will “offend” the minorities. Should we, therefore, falsify and prettify our history? It is time to break the silence that we have imposed on ourselves. We should lift the veil, as Tagore says. Silence did not save the country from Partition. The country was divided into two, leaving a bitterness that has festered to this day. Hindus are awake today. India is awake. The spell of a thousand years of subjection seems to have been broken. We have discovered our past. It is time to resume our journey. But the vast minority of Hindus—and that includes the upper and middle classes—know almost nothing of the greatness of their past. That is why they are ready to accept western leadership and the western way of life. So, are we condemned to remain the Caliban for ever? Can India never lead? Has it no message for mankind? It has. But we need a new generation to lead India again to its greatness—a generation that is profoundly inspired by nationalism, a generation that is aware of its great history. Destiny beckons India. History has chosen it for a special mission. It is already on the move. India must provide the moral leadership, they say. Says Father Peter Hans Kolvenbach, former Superior General of the Jesuit Order: “How in India people with many languages, religions and cultures live together is a lesson to learn. India has an important role to play in shaping the destiny of mankind.” Others agree. The point is: no other country in the world can take up this role. This task belongs to India alone, for it is only India that inspires the trust of mankind. But Tagore says, our people cannot go out into the world with an empty hand. We must carry our inheritance with us. But what is our inheritance? We Hindus do not know. As for Muslims and Christians, they reject the Hindu inheritance. I write what I write because I want Indians to think on these mental confusions. I want them to know their inheritance. And I want them to know the inheritance of others as well. What I write cannot be found in the media. The “Organiser” is an exception. We Hindus do not say, as Christians and Muslims do, that the “Gospel is the last word,” that “the Quran is the last word.” We say that the last word is with God. To know it is to know the mind of God! And to know the mind of God is to become God! The thought frightens me. The Hindu civilisation fascinates me. There is nothing like it in the world. It leaves you free. It consists of two streams—that of the mind and that of the senses. You can have your choice. The stream of the mind reached its apogee in Advaita. And that of the senses produced the richest material and sensual civilisation on earth. We call it “popular Hinduism.” Both are important. But the future belongs to the stream of the mind. Our journey is to super-consciousness. So says Aurobindo. The scientists agree. It was the mystery of the universe that set us on our quest. The Rig Veda wonders: “Who is there who truly knows, and who can say whence this unfathomed world, and from what cause!” We are still on the quest for an answer. That is the Hindu mission. The Christians and Muslims cannot joint us in this quest. They have the answers in their books. They are perhaps frozen in time. They will continue to mark time. They will live a repetitive life. They cannot march with us without causing immense damage to their religious beliefs. Our ways are, thus, different. But we can live together. How? Let us learn that too. That Hindus are living “in darkness”, that Hinduism is a “false religion”—these are still the kind of things being said about us by our critics. Why? Because we Hindus are a gentle people, our State is a soft State and we are ignorant of our past. Let us work on a New India—an India for the “Global Indian.”
Friday, April 25, 2008
Thursday, April 10, 2008
CONCEPT OF TIME IN ANCIENT BHARAT
The Indian word for Geography is Bhugol, which means that the earth is round. Hindu temples are built as per the agamas set forth in the Vedas. The temples usually have a Navagraha that have all the planets of the Solar system. Here we can see that the Sun is in the middle of the solar family. Ancient scientists like Aryabhatta, Varahamihira, Bhaskaracharya, Brahma Gupta in the 5th and 7th centuries, made many calculations about the size and circumference of the earth, distance between the heavenly bodies and the periods of their movements around the sun. Their findings reckon closely with modern calculations. In Europe, Nicholas Copernicus in 1543 and Galileo in 1616 proposed that the earth is round, that it moves and that it revolves round the sun. But their theories were not only rejected but also declared as heresy. Giardano Bruno was burnt at the stakes on 17 February 1600 for his scientific views. Thus we see that the science in Bharat was at least 1,000 years ahead of that in Europe.
Lord Sun was worshipped in Ramayana and he was depicted in the Vedas as a shining personality riding a chariot driven by seven horses. These seven horses denote the seven days in a week. A question arises as to why did they show seven horses? The answer is again scientific. Sun ray passing through a prism or a raindrop breaks into seven colors (VIBGYOR). Also the Navagrahas contain nine heavenly bodies of the solar system. (Of these Rahu and Ketu are merely nodes in the orbit of the sun or earth)
DIVISION OF TIME IN THE HINDU CALENDAR
A. SMALLER UNITS OF TIME
The smallest unit of time as per the Hindu calculations in Truti which is 33,750th of a second
100 Trutis make a Tatpara,
30 Tatparas make a Nimesha and 45 Nimeshas make a Prana and A Prana is 4 seconds, the average time taken for breathing in and out by a normal healthy person..
1 Tithi or Divas is 1 day, the period of time from Sun-Rise to Sun-Rise on the following day. 1 Tithi or day is divided into 2 halves – Ahar the day time and Ratra the night time.
The day is further divided into 30 Muhurtas or 60 Ghatikas. Each Muhurta therefore is 48 minutes and each Ghatika is 24 minutes.
Each Ghatika is divided into 60 Palas and each Pala is further divided into 60 Vipalas. Thus a Vipala is 0.4 seconds.
7 days make a week called Saptah.
1 month called Maas is divided into 2 halves – Shukla Pakshha from Amavasya to Purnima (New moon to Full Moon) and the Krishna Paksha from Purnima to Amavasya. The month starts from the day after Amavasya.
1 year called Varsha is divided into 2 halves of 6 months each called Uttarayana and Dakshinayana. It is also divided into 3 parts of 4 months each called the Chaturmaas, 6 seasons of 2 months duration each called Vasant Ritu, Grishma Ritu, Varsha Ritu, Sharad Ritu, Hemant Ritu and Shishir Ritu.
There are 12 months in a year and the names of the months are Chaitra, Vaishakha, Jyaishtha, Ahadh, Shravan, Bhadrapad, Ashwin, Kartik, Margashirsha, Pausha, Magh and Phalgun.
B. BIGGER UNITS OF TIME
Higher values of years are called Yugas (Eras or Eons). There are four yugas. Kaliyuga has 432,000 years, Dwapar Yuga has 864,000 years, Treta Yuga has 1,296,000 years and Satya Yuga or Kruta Yuga has 1,728,000 years. A cycle of these four yugas, called a Mahayuga is therefore, 4,320,000 years.
1,000 Mahayugas make the day time (Kalpa) of Brahma, the Creator and another 1,000 Mahayugas make his night time.
360 Brahma Days make one Brahma Year and 100 such Brahma years make his working Period called Brahma-Ayu or Maha-Kalpa. Mahakalpa is the largest unit of time which is 311,040,000,000,000 solar years.
Thus Hindus have
Truti the smallest Unit of time which is 33,750th of a second
Maha Kalpa the largest unit of time which is 311,040,000,000,000 solar years
HINDU CALENDAR & THE WESTERN SIMILARITIES
The names of the weekdays are the same, of course different words in different languages, and in the same order. What we call as Bhanuwar or Raviwar in India is called Sunday. Bhanu or Ravi means the sun. The next day we call Somawar. Soma means the moon and the day in Europe was called Moonday which became Monday. Similarly Saturday or Shaniwar s named after the planet Saturn equivalent to the planet Shani. The other days of the week in the European calendar are named after the Greek Gods and in the Hindu calendar are named after the other solar planets. The week days in Bharat are named in a particular order depending on their distance from the earth - moon is the nearest heavenly body affecting the lives on earth followed by Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn is the farthest one here, Sun is the centre of the solar system. Thus we have Raviwar, followed by Somawar, Mangal, Budh, Guru, Shukra and Shani corresponding to these planets.
Another fact is the division of the year into twelve months current in the entire world. The original Western Roman calendar prior to 525 AD had only 10 months - January, February, March, April, May and June followed by September (Sapta - 7th), October (Ashta - 8th), November (Nava - 9th) and December (Dasha - 10th). But when they came into contact with our science of astronomy, they found that they were wrong and added two months after their great emperors i.e. July after Julius Caesar and August after Augustus and this was taken over in the present Gregorian calendar.
Since Yugadi, the Hindu Lunar New Year fell in March, Europe also accepted March as their New Year. March, April, May, June, July, August was followed by September (Sapta-7th) and so on till December (Dasha - 10th). January was their eleventh month and February was their last month or 12th month. That is why all months had 30 or 31 days and the last month February had the balance of 28 or 29 days to complete a year of 365 or 366 days.
Measurement of day and night
The earth rotates round its axis at the rate of 1600 kms per hour and as such approx. 24 hours (23 hrs 56 min) are taken from one sun-rise to another. Due to this rotation a civil day of 24 hours including night is formed. The lighted part of the earth is known as day (ahah) and the dark part as night (ratri). Thus both day and night are called ahoratra. Later developed hora system was the degenerated form of a-hora-tra only. The English term ‘hour’ also evolved from Sanskrit term ‘hora’.
Sankalpa is observed before the commencement of any religious activity.
In the Sankalpa we mention, Kalpa, Manvantara, Yugadi, Samvat, Ayana, Ritu, Maas, Paksha, Tithi, Vaar, gruha, Nakshatra and the geographical location of the place where the religious activity is conducted. Thus our forefathers, the Vedic Rishis had a complete knowledge of Astronomy and geography (Khagol and Bhugol Shastra).
1 Manvantar is the time taken by Solar System for 1 revolution, which is 322,580,000 years (32 crore, 25 lakhs, 80 thousand years)
There are 14 Manvantaras. We are now in the seventh Manvantara called Vaivasvatha Manvantara
1 Mahayug is the time taken to complete a cycle of Kali yug, Dwapar yug, Treta yug and Satya yug. This is 4.32 million years.We have completed 27 such mahayugas are now in the 28th Mahayuga.
1 Kaliyuga is 432,000 years.Twice of kaliyug is Dwapar yug 864,000 years.Thrice of Kaliyug is Treta Yug 1,296,000 years and four times is Satyayug 1,728,000 years.
We have completed several Kaliyugas Mahayugas and Manvantaras.
In this present Kaliyuga, we have completed 51 centuries and today we are entering the Chiatra Shudha Pratipada in the second year of 52nd century in Kaliyug.
(Yugabda 5110, AD 2008)
Interesting Anecdote
Two friends Ram and Shyam went on a camping trip.
After a good meal and mouthful of pedas, they lay down for the night, and went to sleep.
Some hours later, Ram awoke and nudged his faithful friend. “Shyam, look up at the sky and tell me what you see." Shyam replied. "I see millions and millions of stars."
”What does that tell you?" Shyam pondered for a minute.
"Astronomically, it tells me that there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets.
Astrologically, I observe that Saturn is in Leo.
Horologically, I deduce that the time is approximately a quarter past three.
Theologically, I can see that God is all-powerful and that we are small and insignificant.
Meteorologically, I suspect that we will have a beautiful day tomorrow.
“What does it tell you?"
Ram was silent for a minute, then spoke.
"Shyam, you idiot, someone has stolen our tent."
Maya in Physics
The Sanskrit word for Uiverse is ‘Viswa’ meaning ‘all’. Thus the universe may be defined as that which includes everything. ‘Jagat’ is another word in Sanskrit, used in the sense of the universe. It is derived from the Sanskrit verb root ‘gam’ (gam+kvip), which means ‘to go’. Everything in Jagat is in motion, everything is changeable, mutable. Anything which is at rest, which is motionless and immutable is not concerned with jagat. There is another word ‘samsara’ (sam+sr+ghan) in Sanskrit. It is also used for universe. According to this concept, everything in the universe moves with others in harmony. It is akin to the word ‘cosmos’ involving order instead of disorder or chaos.
Study of the Vedic literature of ancient India reveals that a few astrophysical concepts prevalent at that time have close resemblance with those of modern sciences.
· The cosmic egg, the excessive heat produced in the cosmic egg and the bursting of the egg have been mentioned in unambiguous language. (Tandva Brahmana vii.10.1; Jaimini Brahmana I.145; III.12; Shatapat Brahmana VI.1.2.3.)
· After the explosion of the primordial egg, the universe expanded. (Mundaka Upanishad I.1.8)
· The stars were formed out of clouds of gases and dust. (RV, V.47.3; X121.5; YV, XIII.30; Tbra 1.5.2.5; S.Bra VII.5.1.8; X.6.5.2; J.Bra II.45 and 62; A.Bra IV.20).
· The earth had its origin from the sun. All the planets of our solar system and the moons of the planets originated primarily from the sun. (TS, III.4.3; VII.3.10; S.Bra, I.4.1.22; J.Bra I.87; Vap, 50.99.53;
· The earth is spherical in shape. (S.Bra VII.1.1.37)
· The sun, the earth, the moon and the other planets and the space are all spherical in shape. (J.Bra, I.2.57; II.62; S.Bra VII.1.1.37)
· The interior of the earth is full of hot molten mass. (YV, XI.57; S.Bra, XIV.9.4.21; T.S. V5.2)
· The earth and the other planets of the solar system rotate round their respective axis and revolve round the sun. (YV, III.6; A.Bra III.4.6)
Early Western Concept
“God has created man and created everything else for the pleasure of man. The centre of the universe is man. Earth is the place where man lives. Hence the anthropocentric universe is bound to be geocentric. Earth is the centre of the universe. It is stationary and everything else is moving around it. The sky is a dome-shaped blue canopy hanging over the earth. The sun and the moon are small objects wandering in the sky. The stars are insignificant specs of light glued to the sky for decorative purpose only.” This was the anthropocentric and geocentric concept of the Western man.
‘The world’, ‘the universe’, ‘the cosmos’ and ‘the Earth’ were synonymous terms in the geocentric concept. Such an idea has now been discarded. It has been realized that the earth occupies an insignificant dot in the illimitable universe.
For Aristotle (384-322 BC), the Greek philosopher, it was the law of Nature for the heavens to be perfect and changeless. Hipparchus (190-120 BC) was a Greek astronomer. Claudius Ptolemies (AD 100-170), who was another Greek astronomer, summarized Hipparchian system and his own in the form of a book. Both these astronomers could visualize the epicycloid motion of planets. Ptolemy gave the idea of a geocentric universe. In the Ptolemaic system, the Earth is pictured as the centre of the universe, with all other astronomical bodies circling around it. The Bible supported the idea of the geocentric universe.
Pliny (AD 23-79) a Roman scholar was astonished to observe a new star in Scorpio. But how could it be possible? If it violated the concept of a ‘perfect and changeless heavens’ could it be correct? Is it not sacrilegious to report a change in the heavens? The medieval astronomers in Europe and Middle East might have observed changing stars in the heavens; but they might not have reported their findings on religious grounds, and might have explained them away as their observational errors. The astronomers of that age, whether Christian or Muslim, saw in the perfection of the heavens a symbol of the perfection of God. He could not dare to find a flaw in the perfection of the created objects of God. For the astronomer, the earth too would have been perfect, had not Adam and Eve committed the first sin. They ate the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. That was the reason of the earth being imperfect. But nothing like that happened for the heavens. And so the heavens were perfect and changeless.
In the sixteenth century, there was a conceptual change in the Western world, and hence the old idea of the changelessness of the heavens was discarded. In 1543 Nicholas Copernicus, a Polish astronomer proved that the sun was the centre of the universe and that all the planets including the earth revolved round the sun. Giordano Bruno (1548-1600) an Italian philosopher supported the Copernican heliocentric theory and also popularized his own theory that each star is a sun attended by a retinue of planets. This was originally the doctrine of Nicholas of Cusa (1401-1464), a German cleric. At that time no one believed the fact that there were stars too dim to see. People questioned, “Why should such invisible stars exist? Why did God create them? Is it not sacrilegious to suggest that God’s creation is purposeless? Bruno was declared to be a heretic and burned at the stake.
The heliocentric concept that the sun was the centre of the universe, was in vogue until Harlow Shapely (1885-1972), an American astronomer gave a big blow to it. He showed that the sun was not the centre of our galaxy and that it was far on the outskirts of the galaxy. According to him, our position in our galaxy (Milky Way) and the then supposed universe was eccentric.
Our galaxy, the Milky Way was then considered the universe. Now it is well known that there are innumerable galaxies and all of them are in motion; all of them move; In our present concept, the universe has no centre. We live in an acentric universe.
The Gregorian calendar
The present calendar used worldwide which says this year as 2008 AD is called the Gregorian calendar introduced by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 by a Papal Bull. This superceded the previous Julian calendar that was introduced in 4 AD and later amended in 525 AD by a Roman abbot Dionysus Exiguous.
By the Papal order, Pope Gregory omitted 10 days in the calendar to make corrections for the difference between the sidereal year and the solar year. Thus, Thursday 4 October 1582 was followed by Friday 15th October 1582. Further corrections were made by omitting 1 day each in the years 1700, 1800 and 1900 AD.
Science in the West in 16th Century
The western world did not know in those days that earth was round in shape that the earth was moving around its own axis and that earth revolved round the sun. Scientist Nicolas Copernicus published the books "The Revolutions of the Heavenly Bodies" in 1543 and dedicated it to the Pope of his times. But this book was rejected and banned and was called the devils work. In 1616 Galileo who observed the sunspots said that the earth is moving (E pur si mouve). He faced the solemn condemnations of the western authorities that proclaimed his theory as heresy. Galileo approaching 70 years was imprisoned, blinded and helpless in the jail, he died after 9 years. In 1600 another scientist Giordano Bruno paid the price of his faith in science at the stakes.
In the absence of the knowledge about the sun, the moon, the earth and their shapes, distances, their orbits etc no calendar can be designed properly. Hence the western calendar was based on the scientific discoveries made in other countries especially India with which it had an active contact even prior to the times of Pythagoras, Megasthanese and Alexander.
Lord Sun was worshipped in Ramayana and he was depicted in the Vedas as a shining personality riding a chariot driven by seven horses. These seven horses denote the seven days in a week. A question arises as to why did they show seven horses? The answer is again scientific. Sun ray passing through a prism or a raindrop breaks into seven colors (VIBGYOR). Also the Navagrahas contain nine heavenly bodies of the solar system. (Of these Rahu and Ketu are merely nodes in the orbit of the sun or earth)
DIVISION OF TIME IN THE HINDU CALENDAR
A. SMALLER UNITS OF TIME
The smallest unit of time as per the Hindu calculations in Truti which is 33,750th of a second
100 Trutis make a Tatpara,
30 Tatparas make a Nimesha and 45 Nimeshas make a Prana and A Prana is 4 seconds, the average time taken for breathing in and out by a normal healthy person..
1 Tithi or Divas is 1 day, the period of time from Sun-Rise to Sun-Rise on the following day. 1 Tithi or day is divided into 2 halves – Ahar the day time and Ratra the night time.
The day is further divided into 30 Muhurtas or 60 Ghatikas. Each Muhurta therefore is 48 minutes and each Ghatika is 24 minutes.
Each Ghatika is divided into 60 Palas and each Pala is further divided into 60 Vipalas. Thus a Vipala is 0.4 seconds.
7 days make a week called Saptah.
1 month called Maas is divided into 2 halves – Shukla Pakshha from Amavasya to Purnima (New moon to Full Moon) and the Krishna Paksha from Purnima to Amavasya. The month starts from the day after Amavasya.
1 year called Varsha is divided into 2 halves of 6 months each called Uttarayana and Dakshinayana. It is also divided into 3 parts of 4 months each called the Chaturmaas, 6 seasons of 2 months duration each called Vasant Ritu, Grishma Ritu, Varsha Ritu, Sharad Ritu, Hemant Ritu and Shishir Ritu.
There are 12 months in a year and the names of the months are Chaitra, Vaishakha, Jyaishtha, Ahadh, Shravan, Bhadrapad, Ashwin, Kartik, Margashirsha, Pausha, Magh and Phalgun.
B. BIGGER UNITS OF TIME
Higher values of years are called Yugas (Eras or Eons). There are four yugas. Kaliyuga has 432,000 years, Dwapar Yuga has 864,000 years, Treta Yuga has 1,296,000 years and Satya Yuga or Kruta Yuga has 1,728,000 years. A cycle of these four yugas, called a Mahayuga is therefore, 4,320,000 years.
1,000 Mahayugas make the day time (Kalpa) of Brahma, the Creator and another 1,000 Mahayugas make his night time.
360 Brahma Days make one Brahma Year and 100 such Brahma years make his working Period called Brahma-Ayu or Maha-Kalpa. Mahakalpa is the largest unit of time which is 311,040,000,000,000 solar years.
Thus Hindus have
Truti the smallest Unit of time which is 33,750th of a second
Maha Kalpa the largest unit of time which is 311,040,000,000,000 solar years
HINDU CALENDAR & THE WESTERN SIMILARITIES
The names of the weekdays are the same, of course different words in different languages, and in the same order. What we call as Bhanuwar or Raviwar in India is called Sunday. Bhanu or Ravi means the sun. The next day we call Somawar. Soma means the moon and the day in Europe was called Moonday which became Monday. Similarly Saturday or Shaniwar s named after the planet Saturn equivalent to the planet Shani. The other days of the week in the European calendar are named after the Greek Gods and in the Hindu calendar are named after the other solar planets. The week days in Bharat are named in a particular order depending on their distance from the earth - moon is the nearest heavenly body affecting the lives on earth followed by Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn is the farthest one here, Sun is the centre of the solar system. Thus we have Raviwar, followed by Somawar, Mangal, Budh, Guru, Shukra and Shani corresponding to these planets.
Another fact is the division of the year into twelve months current in the entire world. The original Western Roman calendar prior to 525 AD had only 10 months - January, February, March, April, May and June followed by September (Sapta - 7th), October (Ashta - 8th), November (Nava - 9th) and December (Dasha - 10th). But when they came into contact with our science of astronomy, they found that they were wrong and added two months after their great emperors i.e. July after Julius Caesar and August after Augustus and this was taken over in the present Gregorian calendar.
Since Yugadi, the Hindu Lunar New Year fell in March, Europe also accepted March as their New Year. March, April, May, June, July, August was followed by September (Sapta-7th) and so on till December (Dasha - 10th). January was their eleventh month and February was their last month or 12th month. That is why all months had 30 or 31 days and the last month February had the balance of 28 or 29 days to complete a year of 365 or 366 days.
Measurement of day and night
The earth rotates round its axis at the rate of 1600 kms per hour and as such approx. 24 hours (23 hrs 56 min) are taken from one sun-rise to another. Due to this rotation a civil day of 24 hours including night is formed. The lighted part of the earth is known as day (ahah) and the dark part as night (ratri). Thus both day and night are called ahoratra. Later developed hora system was the degenerated form of a-hora-tra only. The English term ‘hour’ also evolved from Sanskrit term ‘hora’.
Sankalpa is observed before the commencement of any religious activity.
In the Sankalpa we mention, Kalpa, Manvantara, Yugadi, Samvat, Ayana, Ritu, Maas, Paksha, Tithi, Vaar, gruha, Nakshatra and the geographical location of the place where the religious activity is conducted. Thus our forefathers, the Vedic Rishis had a complete knowledge of Astronomy and geography (Khagol and Bhugol Shastra).
1 Manvantar is the time taken by Solar System for 1 revolution, which is 322,580,000 years (32 crore, 25 lakhs, 80 thousand years)
There are 14 Manvantaras. We are now in the seventh Manvantara called Vaivasvatha Manvantara
1 Mahayug is the time taken to complete a cycle of Kali yug, Dwapar yug, Treta yug and Satya yug. This is 4.32 million years.We have completed 27 such mahayugas are now in the 28th Mahayuga.
1 Kaliyuga is 432,000 years.Twice of kaliyug is Dwapar yug 864,000 years.Thrice of Kaliyug is Treta Yug 1,296,000 years and four times is Satyayug 1,728,000 years.
We have completed several Kaliyugas Mahayugas and Manvantaras.
In this present Kaliyuga, we have completed 51 centuries and today we are entering the Chiatra Shudha Pratipada in the second year of 52nd century in Kaliyug.
(Yugabda 5110, AD 2008)
Interesting Anecdote
Two friends Ram and Shyam went on a camping trip.
After a good meal and mouthful of pedas, they lay down for the night, and went to sleep.
Some hours later, Ram awoke and nudged his faithful friend. “Shyam, look up at the sky and tell me what you see." Shyam replied. "I see millions and millions of stars."
”What does that tell you?" Shyam pondered for a minute.
"Astronomically, it tells me that there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets.
Astrologically, I observe that Saturn is in Leo.
Horologically, I deduce that the time is approximately a quarter past three.
Theologically, I can see that God is all-powerful and that we are small and insignificant.
Meteorologically, I suspect that we will have a beautiful day tomorrow.
“What does it tell you?"
Ram was silent for a minute, then spoke.
"Shyam, you idiot, someone has stolen our tent."
Maya in Physics
The Sanskrit word for Uiverse is ‘Viswa’ meaning ‘all’. Thus the universe may be defined as that which includes everything. ‘Jagat’ is another word in Sanskrit, used in the sense of the universe. It is derived from the Sanskrit verb root ‘gam’ (gam+kvip), which means ‘to go’. Everything in Jagat is in motion, everything is changeable, mutable. Anything which is at rest, which is motionless and immutable is not concerned with jagat. There is another word ‘samsara’ (sam+sr+ghan) in Sanskrit. It is also used for universe. According to this concept, everything in the universe moves with others in harmony. It is akin to the word ‘cosmos’ involving order instead of disorder or chaos.
Study of the Vedic literature of ancient India reveals that a few astrophysical concepts prevalent at that time have close resemblance with those of modern sciences.
· The cosmic egg, the excessive heat produced in the cosmic egg and the bursting of the egg have been mentioned in unambiguous language. (Tandva Brahmana vii.10.1; Jaimini Brahmana I.145; III.12; Shatapat Brahmana VI.1.2.3.)
· After the explosion of the primordial egg, the universe expanded. (Mundaka Upanishad I.1.8)
· The stars were formed out of clouds of gases and dust. (RV, V.47.3; X121.5; YV, XIII.30; Tbra 1.5.2.5; S.Bra VII.5.1.8; X.6.5.2; J.Bra II.45 and 62; A.Bra IV.20).
· The earth had its origin from the sun. All the planets of our solar system and the moons of the planets originated primarily from the sun. (TS, III.4.3; VII.3.10; S.Bra, I.4.1.22; J.Bra I.87; Vap, 50.99.53;
· The earth is spherical in shape. (S.Bra VII.1.1.37)
· The sun, the earth, the moon and the other planets and the space are all spherical in shape. (J.Bra, I.2.57; II.62; S.Bra VII.1.1.37)
· The interior of the earth is full of hot molten mass. (YV, XI.57; S.Bra, XIV.9.4.21; T.S. V5.2)
· The earth and the other planets of the solar system rotate round their respective axis and revolve round the sun. (YV, III.6; A.Bra III.4.6)
Early Western Concept
“God has created man and created everything else for the pleasure of man. The centre of the universe is man. Earth is the place where man lives. Hence the anthropocentric universe is bound to be geocentric. Earth is the centre of the universe. It is stationary and everything else is moving around it. The sky is a dome-shaped blue canopy hanging over the earth. The sun and the moon are small objects wandering in the sky. The stars are insignificant specs of light glued to the sky for decorative purpose only.” This was the anthropocentric and geocentric concept of the Western man.
‘The world’, ‘the universe’, ‘the cosmos’ and ‘the Earth’ were synonymous terms in the geocentric concept. Such an idea has now been discarded. It has been realized that the earth occupies an insignificant dot in the illimitable universe.
For Aristotle (384-322 BC), the Greek philosopher, it was the law of Nature for the heavens to be perfect and changeless. Hipparchus (190-120 BC) was a Greek astronomer. Claudius Ptolemies (AD 100-170), who was another Greek astronomer, summarized Hipparchian system and his own in the form of a book. Both these astronomers could visualize the epicycloid motion of planets. Ptolemy gave the idea of a geocentric universe. In the Ptolemaic system, the Earth is pictured as the centre of the universe, with all other astronomical bodies circling around it. The Bible supported the idea of the geocentric universe.
Pliny (AD 23-79) a Roman scholar was astonished to observe a new star in Scorpio. But how could it be possible? If it violated the concept of a ‘perfect and changeless heavens’ could it be correct? Is it not sacrilegious to report a change in the heavens? The medieval astronomers in Europe and Middle East might have observed changing stars in the heavens; but they might not have reported their findings on religious grounds, and might have explained them away as their observational errors. The astronomers of that age, whether Christian or Muslim, saw in the perfection of the heavens a symbol of the perfection of God. He could not dare to find a flaw in the perfection of the created objects of God. For the astronomer, the earth too would have been perfect, had not Adam and Eve committed the first sin. They ate the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. That was the reason of the earth being imperfect. But nothing like that happened for the heavens. And so the heavens were perfect and changeless.
In the sixteenth century, there was a conceptual change in the Western world, and hence the old idea of the changelessness of the heavens was discarded. In 1543 Nicholas Copernicus, a Polish astronomer proved that the sun was the centre of the universe and that all the planets including the earth revolved round the sun. Giordano Bruno (1548-1600) an Italian philosopher supported the Copernican heliocentric theory and also popularized his own theory that each star is a sun attended by a retinue of planets. This was originally the doctrine of Nicholas of Cusa (1401-1464), a German cleric. At that time no one believed the fact that there were stars too dim to see. People questioned, “Why should such invisible stars exist? Why did God create them? Is it not sacrilegious to suggest that God’s creation is purposeless? Bruno was declared to be a heretic and burned at the stake.
The heliocentric concept that the sun was the centre of the universe, was in vogue until Harlow Shapely (1885-1972), an American astronomer gave a big blow to it. He showed that the sun was not the centre of our galaxy and that it was far on the outskirts of the galaxy. According to him, our position in our galaxy (Milky Way) and the then supposed universe was eccentric.
Our galaxy, the Milky Way was then considered the universe. Now it is well known that there are innumerable galaxies and all of them are in motion; all of them move; In our present concept, the universe has no centre. We live in an acentric universe.
The Gregorian calendar
The present calendar used worldwide which says this year as 2008 AD is called the Gregorian calendar introduced by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 by a Papal Bull. This superceded the previous Julian calendar that was introduced in 4 AD and later amended in 525 AD by a Roman abbot Dionysus Exiguous.
By the Papal order, Pope Gregory omitted 10 days in the calendar to make corrections for the difference between the sidereal year and the solar year. Thus, Thursday 4 October 1582 was followed by Friday 15th October 1582. Further corrections were made by omitting 1 day each in the years 1700, 1800 and 1900 AD.
Science in the West in 16th Century
The western world did not know in those days that earth was round in shape that the earth was moving around its own axis and that earth revolved round the sun. Scientist Nicolas Copernicus published the books "The Revolutions of the Heavenly Bodies" in 1543 and dedicated it to the Pope of his times. But this book was rejected and banned and was called the devils work. In 1616 Galileo who observed the sunspots said that the earth is moving (E pur si mouve). He faced the solemn condemnations of the western authorities that proclaimed his theory as heresy. Galileo approaching 70 years was imprisoned, blinded and helpless in the jail, he died after 9 years. In 1600 another scientist Giordano Bruno paid the price of his faith in science at the stakes.
In the absence of the knowledge about the sun, the moon, the earth and their shapes, distances, their orbits etc no calendar can be designed properly. Hence the western calendar was based on the scientific discoveries made in other countries especially India with which it had an active contact even prior to the times of Pythagoras, Megasthanese and Alexander.
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