The Science of Hinduism

Odd as it may seem, science is catching up to the philosophy that is Hinduism. Finally we are getting scientists to validate what our philosophers have been saying for millennia – the world is maya.

Of course they don’t use the term maya (that would be conceding that Hindu philosophers are right). They are saying the universe is a phantasm, a phantasmagoria of images created by our brains. Note that they are not using the word mind, which in Hinduism is both the bane and the boon of any spiritual endeavour.

The concept that the universe is a phantasm is based on scientific studies of the theory of the holographic universe by the University of Paris research team led by physicist Alain Aspect and University of London physicist David Bohm. Their findings of the universe as a holographic projection have been either accepted with excitement by some scientists or shot down in disgust by other scientists.

Let’s deal with what a hologram is before we go further. A hologram is a laser picture of an object in which the object is first bathed with a laser light output and then another laser output takes a picture of the object covered in laser light. The convergence of the two laser lights give a three-dimensional picture when played back through a laser projector. Research show that a holographic image when divided does not cut the image in half but ends up as two entire images of the same object, smaller but the whole image nevertheless. This process of becoming two smaller images of the preceding images continues with each division. Unlike normal photographs, every part of a hologram contains all the information possessed by the whole.

Here are some Hindu concepts and their correlating scientific.

1. Consciousness is God (Sarvam Khalvidam Brahman)

2. All is maya, that the universe is a mixture of the reality and unreality (Jagat Mithya). Each of us is the whole universe in miniature.

Consciousness is God (Sarvam Khalvidam Brahman)

Alain Aspect and his team discovered that under certain circumstances subatomic particles such as electrons are able to instantaneously communicate with each other regardless of the distance separating them. It doesn't matter whether they are 10 feet or 10 billion miles apart. - Michael Talbot - author of a number of books highlighting parallels between ancient mysticism and quantum mechanics.

Our shastras have always noted the correlations of everything in the universe to everything else in the universe. The appellation of God as Sat Chit Ananda shows the triple aspect of being (reality), consciousness and bliss as an integral One. Chit as consciousness permeates everything, only varying in the level of perception when this consciousness is observed or apprehended in objects. We already know that plants and animals have different consciousness levels, with humans exhibiting the most awareness of all living things. But science has noted that all so-called objects are merely different projections of energy, and energy has its own awareness as demonstrated by the sub-atomic particles reacting to stimuli, either introduced or integral to their environment. (check out the double-slit experiment and the wave-particle duality)

Bohm believes the reason subatomic particles are able to remain in contact with one another regardless of the distance separating them is not because they are sending some sort of mysterious signal back and forth, but because their separateness is an illusion. He argues that at some deeper level of reality such particles are not individual entities, but are actually extensions of the same fundamental something. (Michael Talbot)

That fundamental something is chit, one of the three aspects of God as Brahman (see below for an explanation on Brahman). Bohm proposes in his book, Thought as a System that thought is the basis of the universe, that the universe is an entity that is aware and responsive. He firmly believes that thought, in this case, is a single entity, indivisible into parts. This means that at a deeper level of reality all things in the universe are infinitely interconnected. And that is the concept of chit Hinduism has been offering for the past few millennia.

While Bohm and others have worked out that the universe is a projection, a phantasm that puts paid to ‘objective reality’, they are still to work out the basis of this projection. For a projection cannot stand on its own. As a cinema projection must have a screen to play the various images from the projector, so must the universe have a basis for this holographic projection.

All is maya

Brahman permeates everything, from the atom to the earth. Everything in the universe is intrinsically linked to each other. So says our scriptures.

Brahman in the Upanishads is the basis of the universe, the formless, nameless, eternal entity on which the universe is projected as an illusion. This illusion, called maya, gives rise to forms which need names, thus offering our minds a semblance of objective reality. This ‘reality’ is only comprehended by the analysis of impulses gathered by our senses and the mind. The limitations of the five senses gives us a limited apprehension of the universe. If we had a sixth sense, the analysis would shows us something different from what we are seeing now.

Standford neurophysiologist Karl Pribram, involved in the field of brain research, believes the brain is itself a hologram. A hologram has a large (some say incredible) capacity for encoding and decoding frequencies, something the brain also does remarkably well, using the senses to gather these frequencies. The brain does not work like a computer, sorting through files to come up with corresponding data. It is able to quickly retrieve whatever information we need from the enormous store of our memories where every piece of information seems instantly cross- correlated with every other piece of information. It works like a hologram does - translating a ‘meaningless’ blur of frequencies garnered through the senses into an image we can understand.

Now scientists are saying that memory does not reside in the brain but in the (chemical and electric) energy of the neural network, finally giving us an idea of what the mind is. The idea of memory not residing in the brain came about through experiments by brain scientist Karl Lashley who showed that labs rats who had had a part of their brains removed continued with complex tasks that they learnt before the removal. It did not matter which part of the brain was removed, the memory of the tasks and how to perform them remained.

Let’s put some perspective to the illusion of the universe in light of the holographic model of both the universe and the brain.

Now, according to science, the brain works on the holographic model of perception and analysis, translating an otherwise meaningless mixture of stimulus into a coherent image, and the universe is a holographic projection. What the projected universe offers is analysed by the brain/mind and offered to us as reality. This is a collusion based on the intricate connection between the brain/mind and the universe, a collusion based on an illusion. If the universe itself is a phantasm, an illusion to start off with, the brain/mind is actually dealing with the unreal in making our ‘reality’.

This projected universe, seen through our senses and mind, allows us to ‘judge’ the environment somewhat. It also allows us the scope of further investigation, based on our perceptions. Greater effort, either through spiritual practice or through science, enables us to see beyond our noses, to enter into realms beyond the limitations of our senses.

This where spiritualism has advanced further than science. As science dawdles with its empirical observations, yogis have realised that the senses need to be superseded to understand the universe, and the universe as God. The best way to supersede the mind and the senses was to rein in thought. Talk about hitting the nail on the head. Bohm says the universe is one, indivisible thought and the rishis knew that to realise the reality behind the universe they had to subsume the small thoughts in one’s own mind with that of the universal thought.

It is our thoughts that define us as individuals, sets up apart from the rest. It is in the control of thoughts (and later the sublimation of these thoughts) that allows us to realise the one thought of the universe. So say the schools of philosophy in the Indian system of beliefs.

Indian philosophy states that the universe is this maya which is a mere limited interpretation of the reality on which it is based. The microcosmic reflector mind works on the basis that the five sense combine to offer a picture of the universe. Sadly, a not so accurate picture since, despite their great capabilities, the senses are limited. That is why we have anomalies, like ESP and para-normal activities. Ever wondered why they see/experience this other-worldly stuff, and we can’t?

Our scriptures also say that everything in the universe is inside of us. I believe they meant what science says is the macrocosm being present in the microcosm. The mantra - Om purna mada purna midam, Purnaat purnam udachyate, Purnasya purnam adaaya, Purnam eva vasishyate, which translates into "That is the whole, this is the Whole; from the Whole, the Whole arises; taking away the Whole from the Whole, the Whole remains" – first told us that the universe came out of a wholeness, from which it emanated as a whole and the whole which it came from remained whole, without losing anything. Very holographic.

As in the division of the holograph, where the image splits into two but remains whole, the individual mind is the individualised splitting of the reality/base (Brahman) behind holographic projection of the universe. Since they are but the same thing, the mind and the universe work well together to offer us the apparatus for ‘experiencing’ the universe. Each mind is the exact albeit smaller replica of the projected universe, if we work on the "whole in every part" nature of a hologram. What is out there indeed is inside of us, exactly.

But is it unreal? While maya means illusion, it has attendant connotative meanings including attachment (moha) and ahamkara (ego/egoism), both of which go towards defining maya completely. The Sanskrit word mithya means relatively real, that which is experienced as being real only in relation to what actually is real. It is like asking which is real: the pot or the clay from which the pot is made; the jewellery or the gold of which they are made?.

So, while the rishis posited that the world was an illusion, they did not go on to say it was unreal. Mithya is what the universe is and, real or unreal, it will be a point of contention for everyone living in it.

Please note, some of the scientific theories mentioned here are still to find their way into mainstream science and will not be found in text books. Try the Wikipedia to get more information on these concepts.

The Hindu precepts in this article are from the Upanishads, the basis of Vedanta (monism). Many of the aspects of Hinduism mentioned in the article can also be found in the Bhagavad Gita, and their interpretations are found in both the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. Some readers may disagree with some of the spiritual concepts dealt with here if they subscribe to other schools of philosophies within the Hindu belief system.