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Some of the important physicists of the world have concluded that there is a great similarity between ancient Hindu and modern cosmologies. Fritjof Capra, a noted physicist, writes, “This idea of a periodically expanding and contracting universe, which involves a scale of time and space of vast proportions, has arisen not only in modern cosmology, but also in ancient Indian mythology. Experiencing the universe as an organic and rhythmically moving cosmos, the Hindus were able to develop evolutionary cosmologies, which come very close to our modern scientific models… Lila is a rhythmic play which goes on in endless cycles, the One becoming the many and the many returning into the One. In the Bhagavad-Gita, the god Krishna describes this rhythmic play of creation in the following words:
At the end of the night of the time all things return to my nature; and when the new day of time begins I bring them again into light.
Thus through my nature I bring forth all creation and this rolls around in the circles of time.
But I am not bound by this vast work of creation. I am and I watch the drama of works.
I watch and in its work of creation nature brings forth all that moves and moves not: and thus the revolutions of the world go round.” (1)
It is generally agreed by the cosmologists that the Hindu theory of cosmogenesis is a Big Bang theory with a plasma type universe and this arrangement agrees well with models in modern physics.(2) Consistent with this, the Chandogya Upanishad mentions that at the time of burst of the primordial sphere, there was a loud sound(3). The shruti literature is replete with such references to the big bang.
The Nasadiya Sukta of the Rig-Veda gives us a brief idea of what Hindus in the Vedic period thought about origin of Universe, which is very much in conformity with the modern concept of cosmogenesis.. Below is quoted translation of the Rig-Veda with my commentary in light of modern science:
Rig Veda 10. 129. (Nasadiya Sukta) (4)
1. Then was not non-existent nor existent: there was no realm of air, no sky beyond it.
[Before the Big Bang, the whole universe was condensed as a point with infinite curvature, as is present in a black hole called the singularity. At the beginning it cannot be said that it was non-existence (asat), because the presence of the singularity precluded non-existence. On the other hand, there was no existence (sat) either, because the measurements of singularity (which is a point) were zero. There was no air, nor any sky or space.]
What covered in, and where? and what gave shelter? Was water there, unfathomed depth of water?
[The singularity was not covered or surrounded by anything like space etc. There was no water. (Water usually represents proton or hydrogen in Indian creation myths.)]
2 Death was not then, nor was there aught immortal: no sign was there, the day's and night's divider.
[There was neither life nor death nor immortal (God). There were no stars, planets or sun to demarcate night from day. (Time also did not exist).]
That One Thing, breathless, breathed by its own nature: apart from it was nothing whatsoever.
[As there was nothing else, there was no exchange of substance from anything else. ‘That’ was a thing, not a person or God has also been made explicit in the mantra]
3 Darkness there was: at first concealed in darkness this All was indiscriminate chaos.
[Darkness was hidden by darkness as it is in a black hole. A black hole is surrounded by a dark space outside ‘event horizon’. Although there was a lot of disturbance (chaos) within the singularity or immediately thereafter, the disturbance was not like light. Light is an orderly electromagnetic disturbance in space. Disordered energy constitutes entropy. The disturbance was indiscriminate chaos and hence not orderly like waves.]
All that existed then was void and formless: by the great power of Warmth was born that Unit.
[Before (the big bang), it was all void or zero. Energy or heat (activity) initiated the whole business i.e. the universe, which remained one Unit even after so much expansion.]
4 Thereafter rose Desire in the beginning, Desire, the primal seed and germ of Spirit.
[The necessity to expand or explode is the meaning of desire. (Energy is defined as a capacity to work. This is not only a capacity, but also a tendency to work.) In other words, the compulsion to explode arose.]
Sages who searched with their hearts’ thought discovered the existent's kinship in the non-existent.
[The non-existent was probably the source from which the existent emerged. In Chandogya Upanishad also we find echo of the same truth. The void-existence was like non-existence. Out of this void the current existence which we see as universe arose.]
5 Transversely was their severing line extended: what was above it then, and what below it?
[In a black hole, there is an event horizon, which separates the two sides.]
There were begetters, there were mighty forces, free action here and energy up yonder.
[In the void space surrounding a black hole, fundamental particles can be born out of nothing. ‘Begetters’ refers to that. There were mighty electromagnetic and gravitational forces. Any free action (movement) by an electron (or positron) of matter –antimatter pair was associated with (?change in total) energy.]
6 Who verily knows and who can here declare it, whence it was born and whence comes this creation? The Gods are later than this world's production. Who knows then whence it first came into being?
[Hence even God does not know how the Universe started.(5)]
7 He, the first origin of this creation, whether he formed it all or did not form it,
Whose eye controls this world in highest heaven, he verily knows it, or perhaps he knows not.
[The whole story of cosmogenesis is such that even those who think they know it (including even God, who is first to originate in the universe) may or may not actually be knowing it.]
The Chandogya Upanishad says, “In the beginning, this was existence alone one only (?singularity) without a second. Some say that in the beginning this was non-existence alone--one only, without a second. From that non-being arose existence. [Chandogya Upanishad, 6.2.1]”
“But how could it be so? How could existence (being) arise from non-existence? In truth, in the beginning (before creation), there was existence alone, one only, without a second (singularity).” [Chandogya Upanishad, 6.2.2]
That willed, “May I become many, may I grow forth (expand).” This created energy (tejas). That energy willed, “may I become many, may I grow forth.” This created water (actually, proton or hydrogen). [Chandogya Upanishad, 6.2.3]
The Hindus believed that water (actually proton) preceded other material substances and water (actually proton) is the cause of cohesion (actually gravitational attraction) of all the substances.(6) This view is not far removed from what modern scientists believe today. Varahamihira states in the opening of his Samhita, “it has been said in the ancient books that the first primeval thing was darkness, which is not identical with the black colour, but a kind of non-existence like the state of a sleeping person.”(7) Another reference to black hole like existence is found in the Isha Upanishad, where it is said that people indulging in rituals will enter into a blindingly dark space.(8) Another similar description is in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad where it states that in the beginning this universe was enveloped by death or hunger and actually there was nothing whatever in the universe.(9)
Another Vedic word symbolizing the primordial black-hole like state is Aditi, the mother of the sun and other stars (gods). The Vedic seers have regarded her to be the origin of light also. She represents the state of things anterior to division. Thus she is the state of pure existence, which by passing through the course of division assumes the form of the world of diversity. As a matter of principle, everything in the universe tends to get restored to its original source, Adithi is also considered to be the ultimate destiny of world into which everything will merge at the end. This is evident from the two different derivations of the word Aditi: a + do meaning to divide and ad+ iti, meaning to eat.(10) Dividing is the characteristic displayed when the singularity explodes, and the universe evolves, giving birth to plasma matter later leading to star formation. Eating is the character displayed otherwise, and possibly at the time of end of the universe.
Prashastapada an Indian physicist of 6th century A.D. conceives of a highly brilliant huge mass of energy particles (photons) packed on the primordial structure which leads to formation of di-atoms, tri-atoms etc by combination with water atoms (actually protons). He also states that water (actually hydrogen) is the first formed atom.(11) At the end of one cycle, all the substances dissolved loosing their forms and stayed as atoms.(12)
The ancient Hindus conceived of an expanding universe. The very word for universe in Sanskrit language is ‘Brahmanda’ (Brahma + Anda) meaning ‘the expanding sphere’. The word Brahma is derived from the root brih which means ‘to expand or enlarge’. The Hindu universe is constantly expanding for an enormous length of time (4.32 billion years)(13) called day of Brahma or a kalpa. After the day a night of Brahma of same duration follows in which all that exists gets dissolved into the primal substance of the universe.(14) This is a single day of Brahma. After a hundred years of Brahma, he dies. “When he dies all compounds are dissolved during his night, and in consequence of the annihilation of the compounds, that also is suspended which kept him (Brahman) within the laws of nature.”(15) Again, “By all this the world will be dissolved into atoms and be scattered.”(16) Then all the seven levels of universe dissolve into a feminine primal nothingness—the “rootless root of the universe”.(17) Some stories show, the male creative principle Shiva and female principle primal nothingness unite to form a blissful state from which emerges Brahma, the active creative force.(18)
The status of Hindu Cosmology has been summarized by Teresi in the following words, “But the similarities between Indian and modern cosmology do not seem accidental. Perhaps ideas of creation from nothing, or alternating cycles of creation and destruction are hardwired in the human psyche. Certainly Shiva’s percussive drumbeat suggests the sudden energetic impulse that could have propelled the big bang (q.v. Shiva’s drumbeat (19)). And if, as some theorists have proposed, the big bang is merely a prelude to the big crunch(20), and the universe is caught in an infinite cycle of expansion and contraction, then ancient Indian cosmology is clearly cutting edge compared to the one-directional vision of the big bang. The infinite number of Hindu universes is currently called the many world hypothesis(21), which is no less undocumentable nor unthinkable.”(22)
Notes and References:
1. Capra, Fritjof; The Tao of Physics, Third Edition, Flamingo, London, 1991. p. 219-20. Also see: Watts, A.W., The Way of Zen, Vintage Books, New York, 1957. p. 201.
2. Teresi, Dick; Lost Discoveries, Simon and Schuster, New York, 2002, p. 170.
3. Chandogya Upanishad, 3.19.3.
4. Rig-Veda, translation by Griffith, 1896.
5. Buddha’s silence on the questions relating to origin of universe etc. was in the spirit of this Vedic mantra.
6. Ahmad, Q.; India by Al-Biruni, National Book Trust, New Delhi, 1999. p. 108.
7. Quoted by al-Biruni (c.1000 B.C.) in Ahmad, Q.; op. cit., p. 145. A black hole like state.
8. Isha Upanishad, 9 & 12.
9. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, 1.2.1.
10. Singh, S.P.; Vedic Symbolism, Maharshi Sandipani Rashtriya Veda Pratishthan, New Delhi, 2001. p. 353.
11. Srishtisamhara Prakaranam, in the Prashastapada Bhashyam, Hindi Tr by Dhundhiraj Shastri, Chaukhamba Sanskrit Sansthan, Varanasi, 2002. pp. 33-4 (part 2).
12. Srishtisamhara Prakaranam, in the Prashastapada Bhashyam, Hindi Tr by Dhundhiraj Shashtri, op. cit. pp. 33-4 (part 2).
13. The Hindus thought of the age of universe in terms of billions of years, which is more accurate than the Christian, Jew and Islamic tradition of just a few thousand years. (Teresi, p. 174-5).
14. Teresi, p. 174.
15. Al-Biruni,(Sachau), p. 244.
16. Al-Biruni , (Sachau), p. 245.
17. Bose, D.M.; A Concise History of Science in India, Indian National Science Academy, New Delhi, 1971. pp. 458-9. Also, Dasgupta, S.N.; Yoga Philosophy in Relation to other Systems of Indian Thought, Motilal Banarsidass, New Delhi, 1930. p. 77.
18. Eliad (Ed.); Encyclopedia of Religion, Vol. 6, p. 348.
19. Shiva’s drum called ‘damaru’ is exactly hourglass shaped and has to be turned up and down alternately just like an hourglass. With each turning around, it gives sound of a bang. It is possible that the Shiva’s damaru symbolizes am alternating cycle (period of time) of expansion and collapse, each new cycle starting with a big bang. At any rate, because of this repetition of cycle, Shiva is also called the Lord of Destruction, whereas He is also lord of creation as symbolized by his linga (phallus) symbol.
20. See ‘big bang’ and ‘big crunch’ in ‘A brief History of Time’ by Stephen Hawking.
21. To understand latest theory of multiple universes, see ‘worm hole’ and theory of ‘super-string’ on net.
22. Teresi, op. cit., p. 175.
BIBLEOGRAPHY:
1. Ahmad, Qeyamuddin; India by Al-Biruni, National Book Trust, New Delhi, 1999.
2. Al-Biruni’s Tahkikat-ul Hind: Translated by Sachau, Edward., “Alberuni’s India”, Indialog Publications Pvt. Ltd, New Delhi, 2003. First published 1888 by Paul, Trench and Trubner & Co. Ltd., London.
3. Bose, D.M.; A Concise History of Science in India, Indian National Science Academy, New Delhi, 1971.
4. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, Sri Ramakrishna Math, Madras, 1985 (Fourth Edition).
5. Capra, Fritjof; The Tao of Physics, Third Edition, Flamingo, London, 1991.
6. Chandogya Upanishad, translated by Swami Swahananda, Sri Ramakrishan Math, Madras, 1984 (Sixth Edition).
7. Dasgupta, S.N.; Yoga Philosophy in Relation to other Systems of Indian Thought, Motilal Banarsidass, New Delhi, 1930.
8. Eight Upanishads: with Commentary of Sankaracharya, translated by Swami Gambhirananda, Advaita Ashrama, Calcutta, 1990 (Eighth Impression).
9. Eliad (Ed.); Encyclopedia of Religion, Vol. 6.
10. Hawking, Stephen; A Brief History of Time.
11. Isha Upanishad in Eight Upanishads, supra.
12. Prashastapada Bhashyam, Hindi Tr. by Dhundhiraj Shastri, Chaukhamba Sanskrit Sansthan, Varanasi, 2002.
13. Rig Veda, Translated by Griffith, Ralph T.H., titled The Hymns of the Rig Veda, 1896. Republished by Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 1976.
14. Singh, S.P.; Vedic Symbolism, Maharshi Sandipani Rashtriya Veda Pratishthan, New Delhi, 2001.
15. Teresi, Dick; Lost Discoveries, Simon and Schuster, New York, 2002.
16. Watts, A. W.; The Way of Zen, Vintage Books, New York, 1957.
[This is a modified version from the chapter on this topic from "Zero is not The Only Story". Published by India First Foundation, www.indiafirstfoundation.org ]
