CHAPTER V UPANISHADS AND QUANTUM PHILOSOPHY COMPARED Study of the Upanishads reveals that the ancient seers had insights into the unified, complimentary, indeterminate and relative nature of the universe. The later findings of the modern physics too brought out a world view quiet akin to the Seers mystic findings. Both were led by some creative visions which appear more or less equal in their findings. History of thought is coloured with the argumentative stand of science and spirituality with their ideas often running in contrast to each other. However it all ended with the advent of visionaries like Einstein, Bohr, Planck, Heisenberg, Bohm etc. These scientists changed the very world view of science which gradually began to acknowledge spirituality and the idea of absolute consciousness. Many modern scientists realized the significance of Eastern philosophy, especially upanishadic philosophy. The leading exponent of quantum mechanics, Erwin Schrodinger concluded that the basis of the world is undifferentiated consciousness. Later this was further confirmed by physicists like David Bohm, Eugene Wigner and John Wheeler. They were followed by physicists and psychologists like Fritjof Capra, Ken Wilber, Amit Goswami, Deepak Chopra, Subhash Kak and others. The general world view has changed a lot due to the inventions of the new science. There came a paradigm shift in the world of science from mere materialism to something based on consciousness as the cause of every occurrence in the universe. As scientific thought and objective enquiry progressed the idea of consciousness began to loom important in the world of science. Amit Goswami says: 172
It took seven decades for us to see that this question of quantum physics has the paradigm-shifting consequence of reconciling science and spiritually, but the basic idea is extremely simple: the agency of transforming possibility into actuality is consciousness. It is a fact that whenever we observe, we see actuality not possibility. Thus conscious observation is a sufficient condition for the collapse of the possibility wave. The mathematician John von Neumann argued long ago that consciousness is also a necessary condition for collapse. All objects obey quantum mechanics; this includes any machine that we employ to facilitate our observation. Any such measuring-aid machine. In order to initiate collapse, an agency is needed that is outside the jurisdiction of quantum mechanics. For von Neumann, there is only one such agency, our consciousness. 1 There are many significant parallels between upanishadic thought and quantum physics. True, parallism may not be taken for similarities. Yet there exists more or less the same world views as presented by the both. The following lines from Ken Wilber s Quantum Questions on the mystical attitude of some of the prominent modern physicists appear worth quoting: There is the great difference between the old and new physics-both are dealing with shadows, but the old physics didn t recognize that fact. If you are in the cave of shadows and don t even know it, then of course you have no reason or desire to try to escape to the light beyond. The shadows appear to the whole world, and no other reality is 173
acknowledged or even suspected- this tended to be philosophic effect of the old physics. But with the new physics, the shadowy character of the whole enterprise became much more obvious, and sensitive physicists by the droves- including all of those in this volume began to look beyond the cave (and beyond physics) altogether. The symbolic nature of physics, Eddington explains, is generally recognized, and the scheme of physics is formulated in such a way as to make it almost self evident that it is a partial aspect of something wider according to these physicists, about this something wider physics tells us and can tell us nothing whatsoever As Eddington carefully explains: Briefly the position is this. We have learnt that the exploration of the external world by the methods of physical science leads not to a concrete reality but to a shadow world of symbols, beneath which those methods are unadapted for penetrating feeling that there must be more behind, we return to our starting point in human consciousness the one centre where more might become known. [There in immediate inward consciousness] we find other stirrings, other revelations than those conditioned by the world of symbols physics most strongly insists that its method do not penetrate behind symbolism. Surely that mental and spiritual nature of ourselves, known in our minds by an intimate contact transcending the methods of physics, supplies just that which science is admittedly unable to give. 2 174
Both science and upanishadic seers tried to understand universe in both macrosmic and the microscopic realms. They seriously addressed to the question of existence, but from different perspectives and through different methods. The method of science was purely objective, with the aid of external experiments and observation combined with philosophical analysis. Reason helped them peep into the secrets of universe. In science verified truth is called theory. Before verification it is only a hypothesis. Stephen Hawking says that a hypothesis cannot be distinguished from a theory. In fact every finding, according to him, is only a hypothesis: Any physical theory is only provisional, in the sense that it is only a hypothesis: you can never prove it. No matter how many times the results of experiments agree with some theory, you can never be sure that the next time the results will not contradict the theory. 3 The seers of the ancient period unraveled the mysteries of the world with the inner eye, eye of wisdom, an instrument sharpened by their intellectual exercise of meditation. Schumacher in Small Is Beautiful speaks of the holistic nature of knowledge or explains how knowledge rises to wisdom. According to him: All subjects, no matter how specialized, are connected with a centre; they are like rays emanating from a sun. The centre is constituted by our most basic convictions, by those ideas which really have the power to move us. In other words, the centre consists of metaphysics and ethics, of ideas that-weather we like it or not- transcend the world of facts, they cannot be proved or disproved by ordinary scientific method. 4 175
Western scientists resorted to thought experiments and the rational insights but did not proceed on to the path of wisdom but sought the help of equipments and instruments which they themselves made with preconceived notions. Ken Wilber writes in his book The Marriage of Sense and Soul: The real problem with these rational, mental or linguistic plausibility arguments is that they are attempting to use the eye of the mind to see that which can be seen only with the eye of contemplation.... 5 The seer looked upon the world with his mind and heart and was able to have the vision of reality without any external aid. The scientists stood for an objective reality whereas for the seer the reality was one with himself. He was able to have the lofty vision of his own self in all things and all things in his own self. The thoughts and attitudes of the scientists of the new era have undergone great changes resulting in the dawn of wisdom on the scientists whose dogmatic stubbornness began to cease when they found that the world which they so far believed was deterministic has really a bizarre nature which could in no way be predicted or observed with objective accuracy. They came to the amazing discovery that the picture of a compartmentalized and deterministic universe drawn by their ancestors was not real; on the contrary the universe was an interconnected and intertwined web of phenomena, about which nothing can be said with absolute certainty. The word coined by Bohr for this all-inclusive, indeterminacy of the reality is complimentarity with which one sees certain similarity with the ne`ti- ne`ti (not this, not this) of the upanishadic thought. According to physicist Paul Davies, Taken to its logical conclusion, it is possible to imagine a supermind existing since the creation, encompassing all the fundamental fields of nature, and taking upon itself the task 176
of converting an incoherent big bang into the complex and orderly cosmos we now observe; all accomplished entirely within the framework of the laws of physics. This would not be a god who created everything by supernatural means, but a directing, controlling, universal mind pervading the cosmos and operating the laws of nature to achieve some specific purpose. We could describe this state of affairs by saying that nature is a product of its own technology, and the universe is a mind: a self- observing as well as selforganizing, system. Our own minds could then be viewed as localized islands of consciousness in a sea of mind, an idea that is reminiscent of the Oriental conception of mysticism, where God is then regarded as the unifying consciousness of all things into which the human minds will be absorbed, losing its individual identity, when it achieves an appropriate level of spiritual advancement. 6 Findings of the new physics thus appear to be as coming in agreement with the spiritual experiences the Upanishadic Seers speak of. Their similarities could be reviewed in the context of classical physicist s finding that energy is neither created nor destroyed though it can be transformed, a premise all the theories of universe are based on. This idea was expressed by the Seers according to whom in the state of pral/aya the Ultimate One draws back everything to itself just to see them manifest into the many but again to draw them back to the unified whole. The Hindu view of manifestation put forth by the Seers comes in similarity with the conservation of energy theorized by scientists. Gita says, that which does not exist cannot be something and that which exists cannot be nothing (na=sato= vidyate` bha=vo= na=bha=vo= vidyate` satah/). 7 The modern science s view on the 177
world s origin resembles the Upanishadic theory of manifestation. To quote Swami Vivekananda, Manifestation, and not creation, is the world of science today, and the Hindu is only glad that what he has been cherishing in his bosom for ages is going to be taught in more forcible language, and with further light, from the latest conclusions of science. 8 Modern physics has it that the net energy of the universe is Zero and that whatever may go out of Zero the Zero would remain in tact. This again remains one of what is said in the sà=ntipa=t/ha of i+sò=panishad.: o=m pu=rn/amada pu=rn/amidam pu=rn/a=tp=urn/amudachyate` pu=rn/asya pu=rn/ama=da=ya pu=rn/ame`va=vasìshyate`. pu=rn/a according to Indian thought is perfect and infinite which is without beginning and end symbolized through the sign 0. Whatever was infinite was worshipped and revered. Hence the word pu=jya (revered) to denote the infinite the 0 symbolized. pu=rn/a could thus be well equated with 0. Hence the translation of the above cited upanishadic statement as follows: This is pu=rn/a ( 0 ) and that is pu=rn/a ( 0 ). pu=rn/a would come only out of pu=rn/a ( 0 ). If pu=rn/a ( 0 ) is subtracted from pu=rn/a ( 0 ) the remaining balance would be pu=rn/a ( 0 ). Simply put, Zero would come only out of Zero, and Zero subtracted from Zero would give Zero as balance. Suffice it to say, the Zero volume would remain as such however much it may be transformed or truncated. This was the ancient Indian counterpart of the law of conservation of energy. 178
The theory of relativity that revolutionized the world with its new findings on space and time and motion served as an eye opener to the scientists who were at the threshold of something new, on the path towards discovering consciousness. The scientists who were once uncompromisingly arrogant in presenting their final judgment about the world warped in materialism, mechanism and determinism soon began doubt their own theories when they knew about a great mystery behind all observable phenomena, which had an inalienable relation with ones own self. The theory of relativity challenged many hitherto accepted ideas about the universe. Einstein s special relativity theory dealt a blow to the absolute and universal nature of time. Time according to him is elastic which can be stretched and shrunk by motion. A man traveling at the speed of light has no past, present or future. Einstein himself said that the distinction between past, present and future is an illusion, however persistent the idea of that distinction may be. Time does not move. Change occurs because objects move about through space in time. In relativity theory there is no absolute time. Each individual has his own personal time depending on the rate of motion and his location. Past, present and future cannot be considered as distinct. They are only creation of the mind and mere linguistic expressions. The future, long awaited, is already there; one may reach it earlier and one later and hence the reference to past and future. Time does not move, it is we who move and our movement determines time. The quantum theory of indeterminacy seems to contradict the theory that the future is already there. The claim that future is completely determined can be refuted and the theory of the atom s quantum nature may be explained in the light of Wheeler s participatory universe. Possibilities exist in the future; the actualization takes place only when consciousness or the mind plays its role of collapsing the possibilities into actualities. Thus there is neither complete determinism nor indeterminism. When 179
the quantum consciousness is de-cohered due to the environment, the future seems to be determined and doomed. When the consciousness attains coherence and regains its quantum nature it can collapse the possibilities into a fortunate and free one. A modern writer gives the following explanation: Two of Berkeley physicists Freedman and Clauser further confirmed one of the alternatives in the Bell theorem, i.e., quantum theory s assumption regarding the existence of mysterious correlations between isolated events. This aspect of modern physics confirms the assertion of Upanishads that deep in the heart of things lay a core of freewill (probability in contrast to the operations of causality and determinism in the outer manifested realm. 9 According to the relativity theory time and space are not two different entities. Time is the fourth dimension of the space which is three dimensional. Hence the four dimensional space-time continuum. As Kant has opined, space and time are only the apriori forms of mind which help attain knowledge. Einstein too has demonstrated how space and time are relative aspects of the universe through his special and general theories of relativity. Before examining the ideas of time and space given in the Upanishads one had better refer to the twin paradox cited by the physicists: Consider a pair of twins. Suppose that one twin goes to live on the top of a mountain while the other stays at sea level. The first twin would age faster than the second. Thus, if they met again, one would be older than the other. In this case, the difference in ages would be very small, but it would be much larger if one of the twins went for a long trip in a space ship at nearly the speed of light. When he returned, he 180
would be much younger than the one who stayed on Earth. This is known as the twins paradox, but it is a paradox only if one has the idea of absolute time at the back of one s mind. 10 Even to a layman engaged in an interesting act an hour would pass like a second. On the contrary when engaged in a monotonous job time would appear at snail s pace. If one examines the state of dream the relative nature of time and space appears as of clairvoyance. In dream one travels long distances within no time. This leads us to the conclusion that time and space are relative to our consciousness. According to Ve`da=nta time and space are not realities existing alongside Brahman because if it is so it would be against the Absolute nature of Brahman. The puranas compare ocean to space and time to A+disè`shan and Anantasàyanam or eternal repose of Vishnu the Lord to Brahman. Time and space are thus recoiled in Absolute Consciousness or Brahman. As Sri Aurobindo points out, Brahman self-extended in Space and Time is the Universe. 11 Time and space are only the operative attributes of the Ultimate. Space time itself is described by modern science in much the same language that describes the Atman in these verses of the Isa Upanishad. It is inside everything, It is outside everything. It moves and it moves not. It is one and indivisible, but It appears to be divided by the passing events of the world of sense experience. 12 Chha=ndo=gya Upanishad refers to the origin of world from a=ka=sà, the space-time continuum. Thus the Upanishad says: Where from do all these worlds come? They came from akasha and into a=ka=s`a they return. a=ka=sà is indeed their beginning and a=ka=s`a is the final end. 181
Taittari+ya Upanishad refers to a=ka=sà or space as the first evolute. The field of modern science can be compared to this a=ka=s`a. The Upanishads speaks of apah, pra=n/a and a=ka=sà in decreasing order of subtlety. Here a=ka=sà is said to have come from pra=n/a. These three are active and things are produced from them and into them they return. This is the similar to the concept of the particles appearing from nowhere which again is the field. Thus apah, pra=n/a and a=ka=sà can together be compared to the field of the quantum thinkers. Manifestation of the world begins with its first step, the appearance of the space time continuum. Consciousness draws the picture of the manifested world in the canvas of space-time continuum. An object is only a pattern in the field of consciousness. The field is enveloped by space time, the first fictitious creation of the consciousness force. In the state of pral/aya the space-time is engulfed into the Absolute consciousness. Thus says the lore of India: From a=tman-brahman in the beginning came a=ka=sà. From a=ka=sà came air, from air the fire, from fire the water. From water came solid earth. From earth came living plants. From plants food and seed; and from seed and food came a living being, man. This is akin to quantum interconnectedness which Wheeler refers to as quantum foam. Thus writes John Gribbin: Quantum fluctuations in the geometry of space are completely negligible at the scale of atoms, or even elementary particles, but at this very fundamental level space itself can be thought of as a foam of quantum fluctuations John Wheeler, who developed this idea, makes the comparison between an ocean that seems flat to an aviator flying high above it, but that seems anything but 182
to the occupants of a lifeboat tossing about it on its stormy, ever-changing surface.. 13 Sir James Jeans, the British psychologist points to the relative nature of space and time which according to him do not have separate existence in nature. He opines, nature knows as nothing of space and time separately, being concerned only with the four dimensional continuum in which space and time are inseparably welded together into the product we may designate as space-time. Our human spectacles divide this into space and time, and introduce a spurious differentiation between them; just as an astigmatic pair of spectacles divides the field of vision of a normal man into horizontal and vertical, and introduces a spurious differentiation between these directions. With astigmatic spectacles on, we incline our head and see the scene in front of us rearrange itself. Yet we know that nothing spectacles is subjective. 14 Einstein s world view which he formulated before his death is worth quoting. Space has devoured ether and time; it seems to be on the point of swallowing up also the field and the corpuscles, so that it alone remains as the vehicle of reality. 15 Scientists studying space and field have ruled out the pluralistic picture of the universe since they accept the space or field as a single continuous entity which is the basis of the pluralistic manifestation of the world. The new generation quantum thinkers realized the role of space in the creation and dissolution of particles. Particles come from and vanish into space. Space, time, and motion (matter) are the three principles in the world of ordinary experience. Like space matter also has a relative appearance, both 183
scientists as well as upanishadic seers opine. The study of the microscopic world by the quantum physicists has proved the bizarre nature of matter. Determinacy and causality upheld by the classical physics gave way to the theories of indeterminacy and complementarity. Objective reality became an illusion or something subjective. The behavior of an atom or sub-atomic particle was found to be ghost-like. Marcus Chown s humorous illustration of the red Ferrari cited earlier in this work brings out the process of tunneling by particles. Being a wave and a particle, an atom is said to be present everywhere and would materialize when the consciousness desires to observe it. The double slit experiment of Young is an excellent demonstration of uncertainty and tunneling of particles. The waves are in superposition. This is no theoretical fantasy. Experiments describe it possible to observe the presence of an atom at two places simultaneously just like a fairy tale character appearing simultaneously at many places. But this was not a matter of fancy to the ancient Seers according to whom it moves, it moves not, it is far, it is near, it is within all this, and it is outside of all this. (i+s`o=panishad). Individual consciousness is identical with the Universal or Absolute consciousness. The ultimate consciousness in its becoming de-cohered binds itself with ignorance or illusion and chooses for it one out of the innumerable possibilities. It thus becomes a part of the world of imperfection and limitation and forgets the unity it is the part of. While scientists call this collapse of consciousness, a Seer like Sri. Aurobindo calls it the involution of consciousness. Universal Consciousness is thus everywhere, become any thing with its bizarre nature. Aitare`ya Upanishad describes a=tman as got entangled in all cosmic phenomena. (He) whereby one sees, or whereby one hears, or whereby one smells odours, or whereby one articulates speech, or whereby one discriminates the sweet and the 184
unsweet; that which is heart(hrdaya) and mind (manas) that is consciousness (samjn#ana) perception (ajn#ana), discrimination (vijn#ana), intelligence (prajn#ana), wisdom (medh/a), insight (drisht/i), steadfastness (dh/rti), thought (mati), thoughtfulness (mani+sha), impulse (ju=ti), memory (smriti), conception (samkalpa), purpose (kratu), life (asu), desire (ka=ma), will (vasà). All these indeed are appellations of intelligence. 16 Upanishads sees material world as the expression of a=tman or pure consciousness through different stages. The Pure or undifferentiated consciousness variously designated as chit, purusha, brahman, a=tman etc gets decohered in proportionate to the worldliness it assumes or ajn#a=na (ignorance) about itself. With ignorance vanishing, there is no day or night, no being or nonbeing. What remains is the indestructible a=tman which radiates in consciousness, says S`ve`ta=sẁata=ra Upanishad. 17 Ma=nd/u=kya Upanishad explains the world of diversities citing the four states of the a=tman like waking (ja=grat), dream (swapna), deep sleep (sushupti) and the bliss (turi+ya). In the Taittari+ya Upanishad, a=tman has the following order of descend: From this Soul (a=tman), space (a=ka=sà) arose; from space, the wind (va=yu); from wind, the fire; from fire, the water; from water, the earth; from earth, the herbs; from herbs, the food; from food, the semen; from semen, the person (purusha). 18 Descend is coincided with an ascend too. The self is capable of returning to its original state which Aurobindo calls the super human state and Teilhard de Chardin the omega point. To quote Amit Goswami, In the last century, two philosopher-sages, Sri Aurobindo in India and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin in the West, had the revolutionary insight that evolution does not end its journey 185
towards increasing complexity with humans. According to Aurobindo, just as animals have been the laboratory for nature to evolve humans, similarly human beings are currently the laboratory for evolving super humans The end of evolution is when we reach the omega point of perfection, according to Teilhard. 19 Usually body being deemed something that hinders the attainment of eternal liberation it was always given a secondary importance. But upanishadic thinkers took matter as the abode of spirit and material world as the laboratory of spiritual experiments. Matter is thus one of the many media through which the ultimate expresses itself. It is interesting to note how Spinoza uses his theory of modes to explain how the one single reality manifested into many. A mode is the modification of a substance which is expressed in and through something other than itself. These modes are experienced as reality by the choice of the consciousness which is an integral part of the mind, for matter was there even before human mind began perceive it and would be present even if mankind ceases to exist. Matter is the primary stage of divine involution, and it progresses to the stage of human mind which realizes matter as the basic expression of the Absolute. In the reverse process of evolution back to its original homogeneity, individual consciousness retraces its step through the same path and reaches the state of singularity. Bhagavad Gita says: Beings, O descendant of Bharata!, have the Unmanifest as their beginning, are manifest in the middle, and have the Unmanifest itself; so why lament for them? 20 Through mind, the higher evolute of the Absolute, one comes to know of matter which is the evolute at the lower level. Hegel s theory of the absolute coming down through the triads of thesis, antithesis and synthesis which culminates in 186
the final synthesis of the realization of the Absolute mind through philosophy explains well how the Absolute consciousness degenerates into the world and how realization of the Absolute takes place in individual consciousness. Scientists have now discovered that the brain makes quantum jumps from one thought to another, coordinating and assimilating these thoughts in the light of consciousness which beacons throughout. The various secretions produced by the different organs of the human body in agreement with the fleeting thoughts of a human being or the chameleon changing its color sensing the surroundings point to the fluttering wave of consciousness. The famous scientist Eccles opines that the cells of brain work because consciousness works. This Bergson calls elanvital or the internal awareness of being alive. Rupert Sheldrake s concept of morphic resonance states that cell differentiation takes place as guided by the blue prints of genetic programs of the morphogenetic fields. It is quantum consciousness that makes the inherent trends match the soul. Here comes the importance of the theory of karma which deals with checking and evaluating one s past karmas or deeds. Collapse of consciousness chooses the life, and the blue print of this selection comes in resonance with the morphogenetic fields. Even the idea of God ceases to be relevant in the theory of karma. Consciousness collapses in agreement with the blue print by past karma or action. Unlike Newtonian physics with its deterministic universe the new physics upholds free will and indeterminism. Some thinkers have still reservations about the quantum concept of participatory universe where the observer becomes one with the observed world which appears in tune with the angle it is looked from by the observer or the seeker, and the relativity of time which overlooks the pastpresent-future divide towards an already set future. Paul Davies clarifies it more when he says: 187
There seems to be a fundamental antagonism between the two theories that constitute the foundations of the new physics. On the one hand, the quantum theory endows the observer with a vital role in the nature of physical reality; as we have seen, many physicists claim that there is concrete experimental evidence against the notion of objective reality. This appears to offer human beings a unique ability to influence the structure of the physical universe in a way that was undreamt of in Newton s day. On the other hand, the theory of relativity, which demolishes the concept of a universal time, and an absolute past, present and future, conjures up a picture of a future that in some sense already exists, and so cuts from under our feet the victory won with the help of quantum factor. If the future is there, does it not mean that we are powerless to alter it? 21 This dilemma is solved with one accepting the idea of quantum consciousness (without rebuking Einstein s relativity determining the future and the role of the choice and participation by the observer). The future exists as an entanglement of possibilities, and the consciousness with the help of the morphogenetic blue print of the previous karmas chooses out of these possibilities. Here one needs to discipline and steady the mind and perform all karmas so that he is no more bound by the dualities and diversities and has become one with united whole. To use scientific language, traveling with the speed of light one is able to see the past present and future all at once ( tachyons ). The noted quantum psychologist ken Wilber speaks of the integral theory of consciousness through his four quadrant illustration of consciousness. He 188
illustrates how consciousness is embedded in the whole structural and functional aspect of the universe. To quote his words: In short, consciousness is not located merely in the physical brain, nor in the physical organism, nor in the ecological system, nor in the cultural context, nor does it emerge from any of these domains. Rather, it is anchored in, and distributed across, all of those domains with all of their available levels. The upper left quadrant is simply the functional locus of a distributed phenomenon. In particular, consciousness can t be pinned down with simple location (which means, any type of location in the sensorimotor worldspace, whether that location actually be simple or dispersed or systems-oriented) Consciousness is distributed, not just in spaces of extension (Right Hand), but also in spaces of intention (left hand), and attempts to reduce one to the other have consistently and spectacularly failed. Consciousness is not located inside the brain, nor outside the brain either, because both of these are physical boundaries with simple location, and yet a good part of consciousness exist not merely in physical space but in emotional space, mental spaces, and spiritual spaces, none of which have simple location, and yet all of which are as real (or more real) than simple physical space 22 Quantum and relativity theories thus helped redefine God as Pure Consciousness. The findings of the bell theorem resulted in the development of a holistic picture of the universe. When Bell s inequality was violated, objectivity and local causality accepted from the time of Newton which even Einstein believed right 189
was violated. Objectivity and local causality were further refuted by the experiments by Alain Aspect and his team. Accordingly all particles are interrelated, communicating each other even though they are billions of miles apart. This reveals that in the beginning there was a single entity, a zero volume singularity of the scientists or a Cosmic egg (brahma=nda) of the Vedic bards. One may thus logically conclude that the unifying factor behind the diversity of universe is Consciousness which abides in everything irrespective of whether they are micro particles or the macro type entities like stars, planets or galaxies. All cosmic entities are thus interrelated as explained in Bohm s implicate order of the universe: Parts are seen to be in immediate connection, in which their dynamical relationships depend, in an irreducible way, are contained, extending on the state of the whole system (and, indeed on that of broader systems in which they are contained, extending ultimately and in principle to the entire universe). Thus one is lead to a new notion of unbroken wholeness which denies the classical idea of analyzability of the world into separately and independently existing parts. He writes further: The implicate order would help us to see that everything enfolds everything, to see that everybody not merely depends on everybody, but actually everybody is everybody in a deeper sense. We are the earth, because all our substance comes from the earth and goes back to it. It is a mistake to say it is an environment just surrounding us, because that would be like the brain regarding the rest of the body as part of its environment. 23 190
Brahman or the consciousness lying at the heart of the cosmos is the highest harmonizing force. In fact the destiny of the world itself is the result of synchronicity worked out by this universal consciousness or non-local intelligence. Thus sums up Dr. Deepak Chopra: The final stage of living synchrodestiny occurs when you become fully aware of the interrelatedness of all things, how each affects the next, how they are in synchrony, which means operating in unison, as one. Picture a school of fish swimming in one direction, and then in a flash, all the fish change direction. The fish don t think, The fish in front of me turned left, so I should turn left. It all happens simultaneously. This synchrony is choreographed by a great, pervasive intelligence that lies at the heart of nature, and is manifest in each of us through what we call the soul. 24 The Upanishads explained Brahman as pure consciousness which is unbroken and undifferentiated. The world appears due to the force or ma=ya which is differentiated and broken consciousness. Ma=ya is the power or sàkti of Brahman to manifest. Hence the indwelling consciousnesses in all worldly entities like animals, plants and even inanimate objects. Quantum physicists, observing the subatomic particles and their behavior, hold that the inanimate too posses consciousness. Erwin Schrödinger reveals the limitations of modern science before the enigmatic nature in his famous book What is Life and Mind and Matter. Science is not hesitant to accept the mystical ideas of Indian seers which it finds consistent with new discoveries. The relation as well as the difference between the local and non-local minds or the plural and singular consciousness is thus well explained by Schrödinger: From the early great Upanishads the recognition ATMAN=BRAHMAN upheld (the personal self equals the 191
omnipresent, all-comprehending eternal self) was in Indian thought considered, far from being blasphemous, to represent the quintessence of deepest insight into the happenings of the world. The striving of all the scholars of Vedanta was really to assimilate in their minds this grandest of all thoughts To Western ideology the thought has remained a stranger Consciousness is never experienced in the plural, only in the singular. 25 Consciousness multiplies to manifest into the universe of differences where to quote Schrödinger it finds itself immediately connected with, and depends on, the physical state of a limited region of matter, the body. Following the Vedantic lines, he compares the world with a dream wherein mind dons several roles. In a feast, for instance, enjoyed in dream, mind becomes three-in-one i.e. the food enjoyed, the enjoyer and the process of enjoyment, all that vanish while waking up. Dream is the half-conscious mood wherein mind gets multiplied and acts as the many. Sankara s ma=ya=va=da, says that life itself is a dream the soul or atman falls into from the state of undifferentiated consciousness, the Brahman. If this is so, the a=tman which is Brahman split is bound to return to the totality just as the dreaming mind returns to the wakened mood. The A+tman-Brahman evolution and involution, according to Ve`da=nta, thus determines the infinite process of creation. It is the reality of monism which stands above and beneath all the pluralities. The only possible alternative, as Schrödinger points out, is simply to keep to the experience that consciousness is singular and that there is only one thing and even in that what seems to be a plurality is merely a series of different personality aspects of this one thing, produced by a deception (the Indian MAYA), the same illusion produced in a gallery of mirrors and in the same way Gaurisankar and Mt Everest turned out to be the same peak seen from different valleys. 26 Schrödinger continues: 192
You may suddenly come to see, in a flash, the profound righteousness of the basic conviction in Vedanta; it is not possible that this unity of knowledge, feeling and choice which you call your own should have sprung into being from nothingness at a given moment not so long ago; rather this knowledge, feeling and choice are essentially eternal and unchangeable and numerically one in all men, nay in all sensitive beings This life of yours which you are living is not merely a piece of the entire existence, but is in a certain sense the whole This as we know, is what the Brahmins express in that sacred, mystic formula which is yet really so simple and so clear: Tat tvam asi, this is you. Or, again, in such words as I am in the east and in the west, I am below and above, I am this whole world. 27 He further writes: To divide or multiply consciousness is something meaningless. In all the world, there is no kind of framework within which we can find consciousness in the plural; this is simply something we construct because of the spatio-temporal plurality of individuals, but it is a false construction. Because of it, all philosophy succumbs again and again to the hopeless conflict between the theoretically unavoidable acceptance of Berkeleian idealism and its complete uselessness for understanding the real world. The only solution to this conflict, in so far as any is available to us at all, lies in the ancient wisdom of the Upanishads. 28 As described above, matter is an intermediary stage, a product of motion. This is more comprehensible in the micro world where high velocity particles come out from nowhere like rabbits from hats and disappears in no time. Thus the micro 193
world is not stationary even for a single moment. The apparent stability of the macro world too vanishes when consciousness is steadied or when one attains sama=dh/i or the state of balanced intelligence. Sanskrit words for world are jagat which means the moving and loka meaning visible. India s ancient science believed that the world is visible or loka because it is moving or jagat. Movement or speed, it like modern science believed is the reason of visibility. According to Vedas and Upanishads the micro and the macro worlds are in constant motion. In fact everything is in a cosmic dance which the de-cohered consciousness can t perceive. Gaudapada s ka=rika on Ma=ndu=kyo=panishad explains the speed-visibility relation that results in appearance. The S-matrix theory is a symbolic representation of the cosmic dance involving a network of interacting particles in a perfect rhythm. Hindu philosophy compares this rhythm with Lord Shiva s cosmic dance. According to the S-matrix the rhythm is visible but not the cause of the rhythm. It is here that one stands puzzled before the unknown and the enigmatic face of the nature. Upanishads and quantum physics hold more or less the same view on the ideas of unity and the ultimate reality. Upanishads deem, Brahman or pure consciousness manifests as world. The quantum thought, though do not mention Brahman or the ever expanding entity, points to consciousness as the governing element of the cosmos. This idea of philosophy and physics is again supported by biologists and the new generation integral psychologists. According to Heisenberg, physics can go only so far and no further in its objective study of nature because it collides with an ultimate barrier set up by nature itself taking into account the limitations imposed by sensorial apparatus. Beyond, there remains a whole realm of reality that can never be investigated by scientific observations. Physics has to presuppose the existence of a background or substratum that shall for ever remain outside the scope of its probings. 29 194
The realm of the ultimate is beyond the ken of sense perception. Upanishads believe that an intellect enlightened by the practice of concentration or meditation can know many unknown things. This is not revelation or trance as often misunderstood, but the awakening of extra sensory perception which lies dormant in every individual. The Seers or the r/shis attain this state, disciplining body, senses and mind. They are able to find union with the ultimate or the cosmic consciousness. Hence the word Yo=gis or united ones. Convinced of the idea of world s illusoriness, the quantum physicist sees every thing as transient and unreal. Having seen everything as ever changing, he is still in search of reality. Neither matter nor energy nor particle is real according to his world view. Space and time, previously considered real and eternal, were later proved to be with beginning and end and hence finite. Hence the relevance of the question what is real in the universe?. Some physicists including Einstein believed that field is real. But Einstein himself later opined that field is not real and that space is really real. But all these opinions are not beyond ambiguity. Naturally the question that can anything changeable and finite be real, still remains unanswered. Again the modern science is not prepared to look beyond its own arena and enquire what is spoken of reality in other systems. In fact its uncompromising arrogance even after its having accepted the idea of scientific indeterminacy still keeps itself shut of from knowing the real. Even after its having been on with the study of consciousness it is still not ready to accept a universal consciousness that remains latent in all cosmic entities. In fact it is this consciousness the Upanishads call Bo=dha or Brahman or the real vitality or energy ( Chaitanya). Unfortunately science is still far behind the idea of Brahman the Advaita Ve`da=nta or the final knowledge of pure monism speaks of. So long as science keeps itself shut off from other systems and distances itself 195
away from a religion which is scientific it can only continue to be lame. Such an attitude can lead only to utter confusion. 30 Despite the entire existing disagreements one could find certain similarities between the cosmological explanations of the Vedas and modern science. There is the reference of the cosmic egg as the potential universe and it s bursting in the Vedic literature. 31 True, the ideas of the Big-Bang and Big-Crunch of physics cannot be equated with the involution and evolution of the Hindu thought. Even as science finds itself perplexed amidst many of its findings like multi-universe, the steady state, oscillating, bouncing, and cyclical nature of the cosmos, scientists still cannot deviate from the Big-Bang because of its zeroing in on the zero volume singularity which they believe expands and shrinks. The idea of the brahma=nd/a which is the entirety condensed, or the cosmic egg which too like the zero volume singularity manifests and withdraws, no doubt holds some parallelism with modern physics though the both are definitely entirely different. The only question is regarding the cyclical and liner nature of evolution. True, within each cycle of manifestation and withdrawal one sees something liner i.e., the long line between the two points. But one may also doubt whether in the long and unending line there is no manifestation and withdrawal. It may sometimes be safely concluded that the long line has in it unending number of cycles which again consist of the line between its two points. It is both cyclical and liner, a paradox that cannot be solved. According to Hindu thought there was no time when there was no creation. It never believed that universe has a date of birth as given by the Big-Bang exponents even as they came across planets and great walls which are older than 13.7 billion years, the age they ascribe to the cosmos. According to the upanishadic thought universe was, is and will be a continuous process. What is seen is only the infinite stretch of manifestation and withdrawal 196
taking place simultaneously and continuously. Within the seeming destruction there is creation which again holds in it the former, or they are inseparable, taking place simultaneously. The creation and destruction are thus mutually embedded in each other. What one sees is the great cosmic dance wherein creation and destruction, birth and death, pleasure and pain all merge together into an unbearable ecstasy. This philosophy is seen at its best in the image of Nat/ara=ja, the cosmic dancer or Sìva, the auspicious. Thus writes an admirer of Indian philosophy and art: Whether he be surrounded or not by the flaming aureole of the tiruva=sì (prabha=man/d/ala) the circle of the world which he both fills and oversteps the King of Dance is all rhythm and exaltation. The tambourine which he sounds with one of his right hands draws all creatures into this rhythmic motion and they dance in his company. The conventionalized locks of his flying hair and the blown scarfs tell of the speed of this universal movement, which crystallizes matter and reduces it to power in turn. One of his left hands holds the fire which animates and devours the world in this cosmic whirl. One of the god s feet is crushing a Titan, for this dance is danced upon the bodies of the dead, yet one of the right hands is making the gesture of reassurance (abhayamudra), so true it is that, seen from the cosmic point of view and sub specie aeternitatis, the very cruelty of this universal determinism is kindly, as the generative principle of the future. And the King of the Dance wears a broad smile. He smiles at death and at life, at pain and at joy alike his smile is both death and life, both joy and pain. 197
From this lofty point of view, in fact, all things fall into their place, finding their explanation and logical compulsion. The very multiplicity of arms, puzzling as it may seem at first sight, is subject in turn to an inward law, each pair remaining a model of elegance in itself, so that the whole being of the Nataraja thrills with a magnificent harmony in his terrible joy. And as though to stress the point that the dance of the divine actor is indeed a sport (li+la) the sport of life and death, the sport of creation and destruction, at once infinite and purposeless the first of the left hands hangs limply from the arm in the careless gesture of the gajahasta (hands as the elephant s trunk). And lastly as wee look at the back view of the statue, are not the steadiness of these shoulders which uphold the world, and the majesty of this Jove-like torso, as it were a symbol of stability and immutability of substance, while the gyrations of the legs in its dizzy speed would seem to symbolize the vortex of phenomena? 32 Indian scriptures thus point to the cosmic central point, but with circumference everywhere and center nowhere. Indeed this centre is an enigma and the only conclusion one can come up with is that this primordial and ultimate substance of the universe is omnipresent like a sea which is microsmically present in each of its drops. Suffice it to say, the part is the whole and the whole is in the part, or microcosm and macrocosm are one and the same. Science too, as cited above, presents a parallel and some time the same view about the macro-micro relation. Universe is thus a beginningless, unending, and continuous phenomenon with its processes of evolution and involution getting on simultaneously. It may not be 198
fully right to opine that both science and religion speak the same, but it is also not right to hold that they differ widely. In fact there are many areas where the both come in rendezvous. Also this rendezvous is highly desirable. Discussing on the World Wars Mahayogi Sri Aurobindo cited the meeting between a matured science and immatured philosophy as one of their leading causes. If both of them were equally matured and happily blended the result would have been desirable. Science devoid of the spiritual values can turn arrogant making men blind and an unscientific religion can only breed credulity. Hence the need of a scientific religion and a spiritualised science. A harmonious blend of the both can do a good deal for the progress of civilization. And progress it would, if the both positively interact. 199
End Notes. 1. Amit Goswami and Maggie Goswami, Science And Spirituality: A quantum Integration, p. 8. 2. Ken Wilber, Quantum Questions, p. 10 3. Stephen Hawking, A Brief History Of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes, p. 11. 4. E. F. Schumacher, Small Is Beautiful, p.77. 5. Ken Wilber, The Marriage of Sense and Soul, P. 21. 6. Paul Davies. God And The New Physics, p. 210. 7. Gita. II. 16. 8. Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Vol.1, p. 15. 9. Sivaram Kaikal, Vedic thought and Western Psychology, p. 139. 10. Stephen Hawking, A Brief History of Time, pp. 35, 36. 11. Sri Aurobindo, The Upanishads, p. 40. 12. Swami Ranganathaananda, The Message of the Upanishads, p. 191. 13. John Gribbin, In Search of Schrodinger s Cat, p. 261. 14. Quoted in Swami Ranganathananda, The Message of the Upanishads, p. 191. 15. N. C. Panda, Maya in Physics, p. 313. 16. Aitare`ya Upanishad. II. 2. 17. Sve`ta=s`wata=ra Upanishad. IV. 18. 18. Taittiri+ya Upanishad. II. 1. 19. Amit Goswami, God is not Dead, p. 56. 20. Gita. II. 28. 21. Paul Davies, God and the New Physics, p. 135. 200