Science, at its worst, is a rigid institution, unwilling to consider anything outside the venue of acceptable orthodoxy, which brings about stagnation in learning and quenches the fires of research; at its best, however, during those times its willing to acknowledge it has still much to learn about our world, science can be a beacon of enlightenment. - J Allan Danelek
Modern human have been around for over 100,000 years. Science would have us believe that in the first 90,000 years humans foraged like animals, hunting and gathering things to survive on, made rudimentary tools and did nothing much else.
And that it is only in the past 10,000 years that we, as a species, have been able to grow our food and to domestic animals - for food, as beasts of burden, as labour-saving devices and for companionship.
Science wants us to desperately to believe myths like mankind was stuck in the Stone Age for most of its 100,000 years on the earth; that our so-called ape-like ancestors had to develop at ‘its own pace’ to bring about the modern man; that finally we grew a brain good enough to be considered a human only the past 4000 years or so.
Why is this so? Only because science is unable to go beyond that 10,000 year mark. It is a matter of technicality. 10,000 BCE or thereabouts a major planetary event took place that has confounded science since it began a mere 150 years ago.
A mini Ice Age, called the Pleistocene Age, ended at that time, thought to be sometime between 10,000 BCE to 9600 BCE, with latter figure finding more favour with the scientists. In this mini-Ice Age much of present-day North America and Europe were under a cover of thick ice. Very little else is known of this age, although the bank of knowledge is steadily growing larger.
The breakdown of the topography of the earth during that Ice Age (below) is from writer J. Allan Danelek, who I believe has got closest ever by anyone in understanding events that happened pre-10,000 BCE, including scientists. The quote at the start of this article is also Danelek’s.
Says Danelek (edited for style only):
* The topography of the earth would have been different – the Baltic, the North Seas and the water around the British Isles would be dry land;
* The region around the Bahamas and Florida would be dry land. The Bering Strait would not exist – there would be a land bridge joining the two continents and it would provide easy access from Asia into the Americas;
* The south western Pacific and the Indian Ocean would have been much different than today – think of a massive section of land stretching from India to the shores of Australia, which would contain in itself the present day island nations of Java, Sumatra, Indonesia, and the numerous islands there.
* Keeping in mind the topography, this land mass would have broad fertile plains often for thousands of miles in area, criss-crossed by broad rivers. It would be a tropical paradise of about five hundred miles wide and two thousand miles long – about the size of western Europe.
* The Yellow Sea and parts of the East China Sea would be the extended coastline of China, with present day Taiwan and Hainan just mountain ranges in this landmass.
* Following the end of the ice age, the peaks of these plains would survive the flooding by becoming the isolated islands of Borneo, Sumatra, Java, etc.
Philippines would have been as large as Madagascar, while Papua New Guinea and Australia would be one landmass, separated by a small sea from mainland Indonesia. Japan would be linked to the Korean Peninsula by a land bridge.
* India’s western coastline would have extended further into the sea by a hundred miles. And the Persian Gulf would not have existed – it would have been a delta of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
* The rest of the planet was ice-locked –only the area between the Tropics of Capricorn and Cancer was warm.
* A third of North America and half of Europe were buried under a thick layer of ice. The same situation was in Patagonia in South America. Three of the seven continents were inhabitable. Central and South America were one huge rainforest with some agriculture being undertaken.
The reason I chose to use Danelek’s analysis of the topography of earth during the Ice Age is because he has come closest to what we as Hindus believe – civilisations come in cycles and that we have had many civilisations other than what we are in the present. Danelek is a proponent of a global civilisation existing pre-10,000 BCE which was wiped out in the global catastrophe that took place when the Ice Age ended.
If we believe in what science would have us believe than we, as Hindus, would have to believe that Lord Rama, the glory of Ayodhya and high science environment of Ravana’s Lanka did not exist. For the story (history) of Rama is set some 20,000 years before the story of Krishna. And, according to science, civilisation could not have existed in that time.
The Ramayana (meaning the Journeys of Rama) tells of two civilisations in contention - that of Ayodhya and Lanka. It is as much Ravana’s story as it is Rama’s, for Ravana represents what many of us can relate to in modern life – a superpower nation based on high technology, arrogant in the face of everything because of its superiority in arms and finance.
It is said that Ravana, the powerful great administrator and Emperor, ruled over seven continents from Lanka. They were the modern South America, Southern Europe; the Himalayas including the Hindukush mountain range and continents up to Madagascar.
The kingdom of Ayodhya is said to have extended from present day India well in South East Asia, including the Indochina peninsula and probably beyond. Many believe it was not just a city but an empire. These two close neighbours contended constantly - with legends saying that it was Dashratha’s martial superiority that kept Ravana from launching an all-out war of supremacy in the region.
One particular legend has Ravana sending a message asking Ayodhya to kowtow to the superiority of Lanka, to become his vassal or be besieged. Dashratha replied by shooting a missile to Lanka that permanently sealed the main gates of the city, demonstrating what faced Ravana if he ever chose to attack. Ravana stayed put, biding his time to get back at Dashratha.
Of course, over the course of time, the missile became an arrow shot by a bow, leading to much incredulity in modern times as to whether this could have happened.
Let’s look at Ravana’s Lanka to show what kind of technology existed at that time, if only through conjecture.
According to some scholars, Ravana’s capital, Lanka had 25 Palaces and over 400,000 streets and it was a continent south of India of which the present day Sri Lanka is the only remnant. (We have to keep in mind there are several versions of the Ramayana, both in India and in South Asia as well as in South East Asia.)
In most versions, Lanka is described as a huge continent, a mega world power with Ravana having dominion over a large part of the earth including Africa and Western Europe (that which was not under ice). Flying vehicles abound (including Ravana’s personal Pushpak Vimana) and weapons of mass destruction were common enough and were readily demonstrated during wars of conquest and when Rama besieged the city.
The final battle/s of the Ramayana are epic, any way you look at it. On the face of lack of evidence of weapons of high technology being used in the Ramayana – evidence that disappeared in the deluge that first covered/washed away everything and which, after subsiding, still left massive chucks of land under water – translators chose to make it easier on their readers by replacing missiles with bows and arrows (the weapons that existed in the time after the deluge). A whole host of replacements must have taken place because it is hard to get your head around the anomaly of bows and arrows, spears and swords having the devastating result that is described in the Ramayana. For that matter, in the Mahabharata, too.
To counter this anomaly, translator talked in their interpretations of weapons which took on destructive powers after its powers were evoked/unleashed through a mantra. Just as a nuclear device will need a very complicated series of processes for its activation and detonation, so do the weapons of the Ramayana need a complicated process to be activated – now we just think of them as mantras that evoke supernatural powers in handheld weapons.
Vishwamitra is said to have taught these mantras, these activation codes to Rama and Lakshmana during their sojourn with him in his ashram. We are asked to suspend our beliefs in accepting that these mantras unleashed massive destruction from a puny bow and arrow. Now that we moderns are aware of nuclear devices and weapons of mass destruction, maybe it is time to accept that the Rama civilisation may well have had weapon as advanced and maybe more advanced than this civilisation?
There is some justification for this belief that a forgotten race of man attained not only the knowledge that we have so recently won, but also a power that is not yet ours. Apart from our ‘myths and legends’ other cultures also talk of gods with extraordinary abilities. Most of them have been supplanted by other, ‘more believable’ beliefs but not so with Hinduism.
There are many books in India that talk of the superhuman exploits of the ‘gods’, of extraordinary vehicles and vessels they used, of the weapons with destructive powers similar to our weapons of mass destructions. (see notes below of a description of the weapons’ effect and compare with what nuclear weapons nowadays can do).
Some scholars believe the story of the Ramayana is the actual history of a people living in a time of great technological advancement. Passed down through generations despite the catastrophe of a near-wipe out of the human species, the story has taken particular and peculiar turns in its narration depending on regional and cultural influences over the centuries/millennia.
The basic construct of this ‘history’, though, remains constant - the contention between Ayodhya and Lanka. Ayodhya was no slouch in the ways of the empire: Rama concluded the Ashwamedha yagna (the empire-building process after he is crowned king). If he was just a tribal chief, as western interpretations would have us believe, how is it is that his story so widespread in Asia? And why do each of the cultures that revere him as god choose to do so as someone who belonged to them (not an outsider) – a person who lived among them in ancient times, who interacted with them and left behind a legacy that they, as people of Rama’s descent, still hold true to this day?
Rama must have been an iconic figure in his time to command such love, respect and reverence throughout South Asia – from India to Thailand to Cambodia.
So, did the disaster of global proportion circa 9600 BCE wipe out all evidence of such a civilisation?
Not really. Mysterious ancient ruins keep turning up – from the lofty Andes (a seaport high in the mountains) to beneath fathoms of water in Japan (the 8000-year-old Yonaguni-Jima which has pyramids).
Ruins of underwater cities dot the coasts of India, Japan and Taiwan and more ruins are being found around Bimini Atoll in the Bahamas (these ruins have fluted columns!).
Dating of water marks around the base of the great pyramid bring up time frames several thousands years prior to the circa 3000 BCE that is generally accepted by mainstream science. Some readings are coming back with dates going back to 10,000 BC – a time when mainstream science says homo sapiens had not even domesticated animals or learnt to cultivate grains.
Why are all these ruins popping out now, and what do they tell us of our past – our true past?
Notes:
Some underwater cities:
Havana, Cuba: A team of scientists continues to explore megalithic ruins found in the Yucatan Channel near Cuba. They have found evidence of an extensive urban environment stretching for miles along the ocean shore. Some believe that the civilization that inhabited these predates all known ancient American cultures.
Bay of Cambay, India: A few years back divers discovered the remains of a vast 9500 year old city. This submerged ruin has intact architecture and human remains. More significantly, this find predates all finds in the area by over 5,000 years, forcing historians to re-evaluate their understanding of the history of civilazation in the region. The find has been termed Dwarka, or the ‘Golden City,’ after an ancient city-in-the sea said to belong to the Hindu god Krishna.
Yonaguni-Jima: Discovered by a dive tour guide some t20 years ago, controversies have arisen around a mysterious pyramids found off the coast of Japan. These structures seem to have been carved right out of bedrock in a teraforming process using tools previously thought unavailable to ancient cultures of the region.
Description of weapons of mass destruction in the Ramayana and the Mahabharatha:
"Gurkha, flying a swift and powerful vimana (fast aircraft)
hurled a single projectile charged with the power
of the Universe. An incandescent column of
smoke and flame, as bright as ten thousand suns, rose with
all its splendor.
It was an unknown weapon, an iron thunderbolt, a gigantic
messenger of death, which reduced to ashes the entire race
of the Vrishnis and the Andhakas.
The corpses were so burned as to be unrecognizable.
Hair and nails fell out; Pottery broke without apparent cause,
and the birds turned white.
...After a few hours all foodstuffs were infected...
...to escape from this fire the soldiers threw
themselves in streams to wash themselves and their
equipment."
- The Mahabharata
"(It was a weapon) so powerful that it could destroy the earth
in an instant. A great soaring sound in smoke and flames:
And on its sits death..."
- The Ramayana
"Dense arrows of flame, like a great shower, issued
forth upon creation, encompassing the enemy...
A thick gloom swiftly settled upon the Pandava hosts.
All points of the compass were lost in darkness.
Fierce wind began to blow upward, showering dust and gravel.
Birds croaked madly... the very elements seemed disturbed.
The earth shook, scorched by the terrible violent heat of this
weapon.
Elephants burst into flame and ran to and fro in a frenzy...
over a vast area, other animals crumpled to the ground and died.
From all points of the compass the arrows of flame rained
continuously and fiercely.
- The Mahabharata
Showing posts with label science. Show all posts
Showing posts with label science. Show all posts
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
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.
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.
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