Astrophysics and Advaita Vedanta

Cosmogony, the study of the origin of universe, forms part of astrophysics.  During nineteenth Century, the Western view of the universe was considerably influenced by Christian theology which held that the world was created in 4004 BC, on a Monday morning.  Even after the immensity of cosmogonic time was recognized, the concept of a static and eternal Universe, as conceived by Ptolemy and amended by Newton, prevailed among Western scientists and rationalists.  Einestein also subscribed to the theory of "closed universe" initially and calculated the radius of static universe as about 35 billion light years. In early 1920s, Edwin Hubble discovered that the spectral lines of distant galaxies showed a shift towards the red.  They theorized that the ‘red shift’ meant that the distant galaxies were receding faster than those galaxies nearer to our system.  This led to the concept of an expanding universe and “Big Bang” theory.  As per this theory, the universe had its origin after a ‘Big Bang’ and is undergoing continual expansion.  Big Bang does not mean an explosion, but the phrase is used to indicate the sudden origin with a bang as it were from nowhere and the fast expansion in a staggering scale thereafter. Origin of universe is stated as from nowhere as nobody knows or can know anything about that point of origin; for at that point, if it can be so called, there was nothing; no time, no space, no matter and no energy.   As our thoughts, words and concepts all function in a frame of time and space, this point of Big Bang, is beyond comprehension or description. So this state of infinite density and of infinite energy out of which all the origin and expansion had started 13.8 billion years ago, is spoken of as “point of singularity” by Roger Penrose, English mathematical physicist.  Singularities are zones which defy our current understanding of physics. This theory postulated not only a beginning after a ‘Big Bang’ in the remote past, but also an eventual collapse in a ‘Big Crunch’ in some distant future.

We have a term in Sanskrit, for a state that defies description; which is ‘Anirvachaniya’, meaning that which cannot be spelt out in words.  And this is the term used by Advaita Vedanta, to describe ‘Maya’, the power of Brahman, the Supreme Being.  Brahman is the Supreme Being with its inseparable, indescribable power called Maya and is commonly referred to as God in religious literatures.  Bhagavat Gita describes Maya as made up of three gunas, Satva, Rajas, and Tamas.  Generally speaking, Satva is the quality of tranquility and wisdom; Rajas one of dynamism and action; and Tamas of inertia and sloth. When the gunas are in equilibrium, universe is in an unmanifest state (Avyaktha) in Maya.  When the equilibrium is disturbed, creation happens.  Maya is also described as one that can make things happen without a cause i.e. Aghatana Ghatana Patiyasi Maya.  It is through this Maya, Brahman projects the Universe in creation.

When  we compare this concept of Maya with the concept of the point of singularity, we find a few striking similarities.  Both are Anirvachaniya, unexplainable. We can guess their existence but we do not exactly know what they are, and how they function. The upset of the equilibrium of three Gunas is one comparable to Big Bang when creation starts.  The state of Big Crunch is comparable to the pralaya i.e. deluge, of Indian Philosophy, when again all the manifested things in creation go back to their unmanifest state, Avyaktha.  As per Indian philosophy this cycle goes through eternity, in cycles of shristi i.e. creation and pralaya over a period measured in kalpas. A kalpa is a period of time equal to 4.32 billion earth years.  Astrophysics has now a theory similar to that.  Lincoln Barnett in his book “The Universe and Dr.Einstein” says “the universe in this picture is like a balloon in which cycles of expansion and contraction succeed each other through eternity”.  Both Maya and the point of singularity are not sentient. Intelligence evolves after creation, as per science and so at the point of singularity sentience is not there.  And Maya being only the power of sentient Brahman is also insentient.

As per Advaita Vedanta, beyond this Maya that undergoes apparent transformation in shristi and pralaya, is the unchanging Brahman, timeless, beginningless, endless, and attributeless, without dimension, and without limitation.  Can the physical sciences go beyond the point of singularity to reach the Brahman?  No, says Max Planck, father of quantum physics.  In his book “Where is science going” he says science cannot solve the ultimate mystery of nature.  And that is because in the last analysis we ourselves are part of nature”. Brahman is described as the mind of the mind in Kena Upanishad, meaning that it is the power behind the mind, that makes the mind to think and reason. So in Brihadaranyaka Upanishad the question is posed “Through what, known can know the knower i.e.Vijnataram are Kena Vijianiyaat?  (2-4-14.)

If  the knowledge of Brahman, the undivided and all-pervading consciousness,  could be gained by Rishis, it was in the intuitive mystic spiritual way, which is possible only for a highly refined mind, and not through the physical  processes of the enquiry.  Swami Vivekananda says “The mind can exist on a still higher plane, the superconscious.  When the mind has attained that state which is called Samadhi-perfect concentration, super consciousness- it goes beyond the limit of reason, comes face to face with facts which no instinct or reason can never know”.  It is at the superconscious level that man feels himself identified with the Self within, Athma, which is also the all-pervading consciousness, Brahman. Insight gained in the state of   superconsciousness does not contradict reason but fulfills it. 

Intuition is no stranger to science or scientists. Stephen Hawking worked mostly by intuition in his work on Black Holes.  Black Holes are the term applied to super dense stars that collapse as a result of their own gravitational forces.  Michael Harwood writing about Hawking’s theory on black holes says “key overview ideas came to him as ‘spiritual revelations’ and make him one of the greatest physicists of our age”.  This state is called Chitta Ekagratha, stage of one-pointedness  of mind. This state which they attain is similar to the state of savikalpa Samadhi described in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra. At this stage personal consciousness is not lost and the distinction between the one who meditates, the object of meditation and the process of meditation called triputi is not lost.  In the state of super consciousness, even the personal consciousness is lost and only the object of concentration remains.  This is the state of Nirvikalpa Samadhi, where there is oneness with the object of meditation and no triputi, described in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra.  It is in this state of superconsciousness, the Vedic Sages could divine their intuitive insights, to which today’s astrophysics is approximating.  

Dr.Fritjof Capra, the eminent physicist, remarks in his book “The Tao of Physics”, “that fullness which the Hindus call as Brahman can be the meeting point of the ultra modern physics as well as ultra ancient Upanishadic Philosophy”.   Can the meeting point as envisaged by  Dr.Capra be reached is a question that may not be  answered affirmatively even when the dream of a grand unified theory, started by Einstein and pursued by Hawking and still elusive, a Theory of  Everything (T.O.E) is achieved.  This theory will integrate into one theory the four separate theories that are required to explain different features of the world; namely theory of gravity, theory of relativity, theory of electro-magnetism and quantum theory. Even when T.O.E. is achieved it may be only a set of mathematical equations that can establish the single source of creation beyond doubt.  But we will still be missing the Infinite Intelligence that set this dream in motion in the first instance and that is behind Creation. Beyond Maya or the point of singularity is that Supreme Force and this is not the realm of physics but of metaphysics where not only intuitive intelligence of an individual mind but the subjective experience of individual realization in a state of superconsciousness is the influencing factor.  Twentieth century physics has stripped physics of its air of certainty and objectivity in the realm of infinitely small and infinitely big and revealed the inter-connectivity of Space and Time, Mass and Energy. Maybe this century may reveal that all branches of human knowledge including metaphysics are interconnected in the form of  Advaita Vedanta.

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Quantum physics and Advaita Vedanta

Quantum theory and Einstein's theory of relativity form the basis for the modern physics. Quantum theory is the theoretical basis of modern physics that explains the nature and behaviour of matter and energy at the atomic and subatomic level.  The nature and behaviour of matter and energy at that level is also referred to as quantum physics and quantum mechanics. So we can say quantum physics is the study of the behaviour of matter and energy at the molecular, atomic, nuclear, and even still smaller microscopic levels like quarks.  "Quantum" comes from the Latin, meaning "how much." It refers to the discrete units of matter and energy that are predicted by and observed in quantum physics. Even space and time, which appear to be extremely continuous, have smallest possible values.  Quantum theory can be defined as a collection of ideas that scientists use to describe the way this microscopic world operates.  In the early 20th century, it was discovered that the laws that govern macroscopic world do not function the same in respect of microscopic world.   Quantum physics has brought science closer to Advaita Vedanta.  This is not to quote science to validate Advaita or to authenticate Advaita through science but to showcase how modern science today as quantum physics is approximating to the ancient truths propounded in Advaita Vedanta. 

Let us see how small the elementary particles that we are discussing about are.  The diameter of an atom is one hundred millionth of a centimetre. As it is difficult to conceive, let us see it through an example.  When an orange is blown to the size of the earth, then the atom will be of the size of cherry. If the atom is blown to the size of the St. Peter’s cathedral in Rome, the biggest dome on earth, then the nucleus of the blown up atom will be the size of a grain of dust on it. And protons and neutrons are constituents of nucleus. Protons are so small that in a little dot (.) we can pack 500 billion ie. 500,000,000,000 protons.  As for electron, if it is to be blown up fourteen trillion and two hundred billion ie.14,200,000,000,000 times, then it will be the size of an apple of four centimeter radius.    

Ernest Rutherford demonstrated that the atom is not the solid building block, but it has an internal structure consisting of small dense nucleus about which electrons circle in orbits.  Electrons are held in their orbits through the electrical attraction between positive nucleus and negative electrons.  Nucleus was later found to contain positive protons and neutral neutrons. Protons, neutrons and electrons were collectively called as nucleons and taken to be the ultimate indestructible unit of matter.  In 1930, new particles were discovered as scientists refined their experimental techniques and today we know over hundred ‘elementary’ particles, which are divided into two groups of hadrons and leptons and scientists are nowhere near finding the ultimate indestructible unit of matter, if it exists.  For hadrons are composite particles made of quarks and antiquarks.  But, quarks, which at present is treated as fundamental matter principle, cannot be isolated and studied and is also not stable.  The electrons have been studied in depth and it is the findings thereof that made the Western Scientists turn towards Advaita Vedanta and the Upanishad truths on which it is based.

There is an interesting aspect about subatomic particles. They behave as if they have split personality with wave-particle duality.  For they can move both as particles and as waves; particle being one confined to a small space while wave is one spread over a vast region of space. For example light can take the form of electro-magnetic waves or particles called photons.  Further the particles will behave one way or another depending upon the way the observer chooses to measure it.  This means that in the realm of quantum physics, observing something actually influences the physical processes taking place. So, the data is not independent of the way the observer measures it and the observer is also part of the project and is now called the participator.  Again the wave functions, associated with subatomic particles, are abstract mathematical quantities based upon the probabilities of finding the particles in various places with various properties.  This has made Dr. Robert Oppenheimer, celebrated physicist called “The Father of atomic bomb” remark “If we ask, for instance, whether the position of the electron remains the same we must say ‘No’.  If we ask whether the electron’s position changes with time we must say “No”.  If we ask whether electron is at rest we must say “No”, if we ask whether it is in motion, we must say “No”.”  That means science is talking the language of the Upanishads, describing the Indescribable in paradoxes.  For example, Isavasya Upanishad describes the indescribable Brahman through paradoxes.  “That moves; That moves not; That is at a distance; That is very near;  That is inside everything; That is outside everything” (Mantra 5)

In the double-slit experiments it has been found that photons, particles of light that start as particles and end as particles change to waves and back in between on their own, as if they have a will of their own.  Such a change on its own without external interference is possible only among sentient beings.  The change could be inferred but point of change and re-change could not be detected.  E.H.Walker, an American physicist, openly concluded that the photons may be conscious.  What are photons but only subatomic particles!  And these subatomic particles only make up matter.   That means matter has also potential consciousness which is the view propounded by Advaita.  Advaita philosophy states that matter has also consciousness but in unmanifest form as everything in universe, matter and non-matter, is Brahman only. 

Initially it was assumed that electrons move around nucleus in fixed orbits like the planets around the sun.  Now it is discovered that electrons don’t have a trajectory or an orbit like the ball shot in the air or whirled around a chord.  Not only is it not possible to say where an electron will be at a particular time but it is also not possible to establish a causal relationship between two known positions of the electron.  Only the probability of it being at a particular time at a particular place can be given.  Dr.Fritjof Capra, physicist and systems theorist, remarks “Being a probability pattern, the particle has tendencies to exist in various places and thus manifests a strange kind of physical reality between existence and non existence” This type of reality, which can be neither termed as existent, nor dismissed as non-existent is not unknown to Advaita.  This is the property of Maya, power of Brahman, which can neither be said to be existent nor nonexistent. This property is termed Satasat Vilakshanam; Sat means existence, Asat   nonexistence and Vilakshanam devoid of (here of both).   Swami Vivekananda defines Maya as mere statement of facts as they exist.  Yes, Maya is the statement of facts as it exists in the subatomic world.

“Subatomic particles are Maya” means the world that is made of subatomic particles is a product of Maya.  Advaita has a word for it, Vyavaharika Satyam, relative reality. So quantum physics leads us to the conclusion that the world is a relative reality, not absolute reality which is what the Advaita philosophy had been proclaiming for ages earning for its votaries the derision of all schools of dualists as Mayawadhis.  

This indeterminacy in subatomic world is outlined in Heisenberg’s theory of uncertainty, which raised a hornet’s nest when it was propounded.  Einstein who set out to disprove this theory declaring “God does not play dice” became himself unknowingly the cause for strengthening it, by leading scientists after his time to the postulation of Bell’s theorem and to the concept of quantum entanglement.   Entanglement is when two particles (for example photons) are intimately connected so that measurement on one instantly affects the other, no matter how far away it is.  One entangled particle can be seen to affect the other instantly, no matter how far apart they are.

Bell’s theorem and the successful experiment by Alain Aspect, the French physicist, have shown that two electrons of an entangled pair, i.e. pair of electrons that have a total spin of zero, react to each other instantaneously irrespective of the distances separating them.  This has made Henry Stapp, another American physicist   remark “An elementary particle is not an independently existing analysable entity.  It is in essence a set of relationships that reach out to others”.  The bootstrap hypothesis of Geoffrey Chew, an American theoretical physicist, clearly states that the world cannot be understood as an assemblage of entities which cannot be analysed further, a view held earlier in classical physics or classical mechanics.  The universe is seen now as an ‘unbroken wholeness’, a dynamic web of   interrelated events, which is the similar to the conception of universe in Upanishads as Virat Purusha, a whole person, an organic dynamic whole where each part is interconnected and interrelated to every other part.  Idiom is different but idea is the same.

Extending this to human beings who are also assemblage of subatomic particles, every one of them is interconnected to every other human being in a subtle way irrespective of the race, religion, language or sex.  This is the key message of Advaita, a message of oneness of all living beings in their essential nature, much more so, of the human beings as their Athma (soul) is one and eternal, only their names and forms are different and finite. Even if we stop at interconnectedness without extending it to oneness that understanding itself will lead to the philosophy of Sanathana Dharma, ‘Vasudaiva Kudumbakam’  (the whole world is one family); and on that basis a stable world peace and world order can be achieved.

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Swami Vivekananda and Modern Physics

Swami Vivekananda was not only a monk of great sastraic erudition, a magnificent orator with an imposing appearance endowed with a keen, incisive mind and an incredible memory,  but also a great scholar in science.  It is his ability to interpret Vedic Science with the idioms of Modern Science that endeared him to the west and made them appreciate the great scientific truths enshrined in the Vedas.   We shall briefly see his vision in Modern Physics.  (I will be hereafter referring to Swami Vivekananda as Swamiji only.)

Science of Swamiji’s day swore by positivism, which refused to accept anything that was not verifiable by senses or experiments.  Swamiji stressed there is also place for intuitionism in quest of science for ultimate truth quoting the Vedas, where the rishis in their search for Truth turned inwards their thoughts and arrived at profound scientific conclusions.  He pointed out “The senses cheat you day and night.  Vedanta found that ages ago; Modern science is just discovering the same fact” (7,74)  He said that intuition is the natural culmination of reason. On instinct, reason and intuition, he said, “Reason is the vehicle one rides to reach a certain point beyond which one cannot move. Intuition goes beyond reason but reason with unbiased mind is the only guide to reach there. Instinct is like ice, reason is like water and intuition is the subtlest form like vapor and each one follows the other”.  Today, with the developments in particle physics which deals with sub-atomic particles like quarks and leptons that are only inferred and still not isolated to be studied separately and the vindication of uncertainty theory of Heisenberg, the limitations of experimental physics and positivism are exposed.  Einstein who started as a strong votary of positivism later declared, “In a certain sense, therefore, I hold it true that pure thought can grasp reality as the ancients dreamed”. 

Physics of Swamiji’s time is now called classical physics as compared to the present day’s Modern Physics.  In classical physics mass, energy, space and time were all considered independent entities.  Swamiji with his Vedantic knowledge declared that these four are not only inter-related but also that energy and matter are interchangeable in the space and time domains.  In the Raja Yoga lecture Swamiji  delivered in New York, he explained the oneness of matter and energy by defining them as Akasa and Prana, that are produced from the Universal mind, Mahat, using Sankhyan terminology.  All forces are expressions of one single force, Prana; and all matters are derived from one basic matter, Akasa and both come from Mahat, which itself  is a projection of Absolute, he declared.  Nicholas Tesla, the famous U.S. electrical engineer and inventor, was greatly impressed with the idea and later had discussions with Swamiji.   Swamiji later wrote to an English friend, “Mr. Tesla thinks he can demonstrate mathematically that force and matter are reducible to potential energy. I am to go and see him next week, to get this new mathematical demonstration”(5,77).  In this letter Swamiji has used the terms force and matter for energy and mass.  Tesla did not succeed and only ten years later Einstein came with the equation E=mc², to demonstrate the oneness of mass and energy.  It is to be noted here that after meeting Swamiji, Tesla who was struck by the resemblance between the Sankhya theory of matter and energy and that of modern physics, took great interest in Eastern Science and even started using the words Akasa and Prana for matter and energy.  Swamiji  later remarked during a lecture in India, "I myself have been told by some of the best scientific minds of the day, how wonderfully rational the conclusions of the Vedanta are. I know of one of them personally, who scarcely has time to eat his meal, or go out of his laboratory, but who would stand by the hour to attend my lectures on the Vedanta; for, as he expresses it, they are so scientific, they so exactly harmonize with the aspirations of the age and with the conclusions”

Regarding time,space and causation, let me quote Swamiji's words as expressed in the lecture in London in 1896. "The one peculiar attribute we find in time, space, and causation is that they cannot exist separate from other things. Try to think of space without colour, or limits, or any connection with the things around-just abstract space. You cannot; you have to think of it as the space between two limits or between three objects.  It has to be connected with some object to have any existence.  So with time; you cannot have any idea of abstract time, but you have to take two events, one preceding and the other succeeding, and join the two events by the idea of succession.  Time depends on two events, just as space has to be related to outside objects.  And the idea of causation is inseparable from time and space.  This is the peculiar thing about them having no independent existence.------ They have no real existence; yet they are not non-existent, seeing that through them all things are manifesting as this universe.  Thus we see that the combination of time, space, and causation has neither existence nor non-existence.-----This is Maya".  These words regarding time, space, and causation were revolutionary then but now with the theory of relativity and studies in particle physics, it is a common knowledge in science circles that there is no absolute time, space or causation.  Michael Talbot in his book ‘Mysticism and New Physics”  says ”Vivekananda further expresses a view that has become the backbone of the quantum theory.  There is no such thing as causality”

"Science is nothing but the finding of unity.  As soon as science would reach perfect unity, it would stop from further progress, because it would reach the goal" declared Swamiji in the paper on Hinduism he submitted in the Parliament of Religions in 1893.  This “unity” is expressed in Vedanta through the Mahavakya “Tat Tvam Asi” (Thou art That) which can be expressed as an equation Athma=Brahman, that can be interpreted as the identification of macrocosm and microcosm.  Swamiji referred to this unity with these words, “Though an atom is invisible, unthinkable, yet in it are the whole power and potency of the Universe.  This is exactly what the Vedantists say of Athma”(7,50);  “Man is the most representative being in the universe, the microcosm, a small universe in himself”(4,49).  The unity that Swamiji envisioned is now the goal of scientists can be seen from the Nobel laureate Dr. David Bohm’s words in his book “Wholeness and the Implicate order”; “science itself is demanding a new, non-fragmentary world view, in the sense that the present approach of analysis of the world into independently existent parts does not work very well in modern physics. It is shown that both in relativity theory and quantum theory, notions implying the undivided wholeness of the universe would provide a much more orderly way of considering the general nature of reality.”

Swamiji called Newton and Galileo 'Prophets of physical science’ and Upanishadic Rishis ‘Prophets of spirituality’ and declared that “the whole universe, mental and material, will be fused into one”(6,4). He prophesied the convergence of modern science with the Advaita Vedanta and the consequent spiritualization of religion and civilisation when he declared in Harvard in 1895, "Civilization is the manifestation of divinity in man".  No wonder A.D.Reincourt observed in his book 'The eye of Shiva',"From its modern awakening with Sri Ramakrishna  and Swami Vivekananda, Eastern mysticism has begun to adapt its revelations to the entirely different cultural framework provided by science and technology, without in any way sacrificing what is valid in its traditional understanding of the phenomenon itself ----Indian mysticism has evolved as the science of physics itself".

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