Image Courtesy: Aurore Simonnet for the NANOGrav Collaboration
Recently, there was a comment by one of the leaders of Kerala Rationalist Association (Kerala Yukthivadi Sangham) that Vedas do not have anything connected to findings of modern science. One of the drawbacks of the so-called rationalists is their views are based on the laws of nature as depicted by mechanics of Newton during the 17th century through his three laws of motion. The deterministic approach of Newtonian mechanics has been side-tracked by later developments in physical sciences by rejecting absolute space–time by special theory of relativity by Einstein and his connection law between space-time structure and matter through his general theory of relativity. The famous experiments of light bending during complete solar eclipse in 1919 by Eddington pierced the last nail on the deterministic laws of Newtonian mechanics, which can be considered as an approximation of the theory of relativity in the low velocity limit. Later developments in quantum mechanics and cosmology through astronomical observations by space telescopes and detection of gravitational waves have theorized our universe as following highly nonlinear physics and theory of complexity.
Now there is a new rise of string theory on the horizon which has changed our concept of fundamental particles as point particles to vibrations of cosmic strings. One may wonder about the high parallelism between string theory and the Indian knowledge system available in the Vedas and other Indian literature like Brahma Sutra Bhashya by Sankaracharya and Sulba Sutras by Sulbakaras. This article is aimed at introducing such astonishing insights of ancient rishis and knowledge seekers like Aryabhata, Varahamihira, Brahmagupta, Sangamagrama Madhava and his shishya or disciple, Parampara. During the 20th century, we had Srinivasa Ramanujan whose discoveries in Mathematics are still being used in diverse fields like space science, cryptology, genetic engineering, etc.
STRING THEORY
String theory in particle physics is a theory that attempts to merge quantum mechanics with Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity. The name String Theory comes from the modeling of subatomic particles as tiny one-dimensional ‘string like’ entities rather than the more conventional approach in which they are modeled as zero-dimensional point particles. The theory envisions that a string undergoing a particular mode of vibration corresponds to a particle with definite properties such as mass and charge. In the 1980s, physicists realized that string theory had the potential to incorporate all four of nature’s forces—gravity, electromagnetism, strong force, and weak force—and all types of matter in a single quantum mechanical framework, suggesting that it might be the long-sought unified field theory. While string theory is still a vibrant area of research that is undergoing rapid development, it remains primarily a mathematical construct because it is yet to make contact with experimental observations. In 1915, Einstein unified space, time, and gravitation with his general theory of relativity, showing that warps and curves in space and time are responsible for the force of gravity.
Image Courtesy: PIB
The primary concern of theoretical physicists from the 1920s onward was quantum mechanics—the emerging framework for describing atomic and subatomic processes. Particles at these scales have such tiny masses that gravity is essentially irrelevant in their interactions, and hence, for decades, quantum mechanical calculations generally ignored general relativistic effects. By the late 1960s, the focus was on a different force—the strong force, which binds together the protons and neutrons within atomic nuclei. Gabriele Veneziano, a young theorist working at European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), discovered that much of the data on the strong force then being collected at various particle accelerators around the world can be described in terms of vibrating strings. A few years later, three physicists—Leonard Susskind of Stanford University, Holger Nielsen of the Niels Bohr Institute, and Yoichiro Nambu of the University of Chicago—significantly amplified Veneziano’s insight by showing that the mathematics underlying his proposal described the vibrational motion of energy that resemble tiny strands of string, inspiring the name String Theory.
According to String Theory, the strong force binding quarks are similar to strings which bind together particles attached to strings’ ends. Much as different vibrational patterns of a violin string play different musical notes, the different vibrations of the tiny strands in String Theory were imagined to yield different particles of nature. According to the theory, the strings are so small that they appear to be points—as particles had long been thought to be—but in reality, they have length (about 10−33 cm); the mass and charge of a particle is determined by how a string vibrates. For example, String Theory posits that an electron is a string undergoing one particular vibrational pattern; a quark is imagined as a string undergoing a different vibrational pattern. String Theory united the laws of the large (general relativity) and the laws of the small (quantum mechanics) and many believed that String Theory required reinterpretation as a critical step toward Einstein’s unified theory. An Indian physicist of Harish Chandra Institute for Theoretical Physics, Prayagraj, Prof Asok Sen made valuable contributions to String Theory for which he was awarded the first Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics in 2012, instituted by Russian-born Israeli millionaire, Yuri Milner.
BRAHMA SUTRA AS THE COSMIC STRING MODEL OF THE GALAXY
In Vedic literature, the whole visual world is described as the ‘prapancham’. It is the ‘Brahman’, which is the originator of this prapancham and thus, being born off Brahman, this galaxy is said to have arisen from ‘hiranyagarbhan’ arising due to the phase transition of parabrahma to the saguna brahma called hiranya garbhan which causes the creation of the drisya prapancham.
In a strictly Vedic context, sutra indicates a verse that is ‘threaded’ with the succeeding verses. “Oh Gautama! The subtle pancha bhoota principle of air called vayuis the ‘string’. It is by this string that this world and the higher worlds as well as all their components are threaded together”.
It is possible to propose a hypothetical model based on the experimental and theoretical wisdom of the contemporary sciences, as well as the cardinal principles of those ancient Vedantic visionaries of humanity, as given in scriptures, for example in Brahma Sutras, Bhagvad Gita and related texts.
This String Theory as proposed in Vedanta has three parts:
- The presence of primordial energy, required for the creation of the galaxy (Prag Energy).
- The accretion and interaction of this energy (Hiranya Garbha or the Cosmic Egg).
- The birth of the cosmic forces, laws, interactions and the manifestations (Panch Bhutas).
Prag energy is the unmanifest Conscious Energy. Brahma Sutra describes this state of Brahman as condensed mind and then ‘its particles’ initiate ‘action’
through the first ‘creation’, Pancha bhutas of space, air, fire, water, and earth. According to Indian philosophy, mind came from the satwik part of all the subtle Panch Bhutas (as per Tatwa Bodha of Sankaracharya), Prana or the Cosmic Vibration came from the Rajasik part of the subtle Panch Bhutas, Physical World came from the Tamasik part of the subtle Panch Bhutas. From these indications in Brahma Sutra Bhashya (as well as the Tatwa Bodha, both interpreted lately by Sri Sankaracharya), we can infer the primary cause, the forces and the laws of its transformation.
WHAT IS BRAHMAN?
While Brahma Sutra asserts that the source of the galaxy is the condensed consciousness, Bhagvad Gita implies it as a ‘physical womb’. Thus, the condensed consciousness and the condensed matter coincide in the same entity that is the origin of the manifested galaxy, possibly existing in a solid, embryonic form (hiranyagarbha) which later on will cause the big bang.This approach only can provide a logico-linguistic framework for further theoretical studies.
If ‘consciousness’ is attributed to strings, then there is a real link to unification. Contemporary science has observed that the universe is 73% dark energy, 23% dark matter and the manifest universe only 4%. During devolution, the manifest galaxy decomposes to dark matter and dark energy.
It is plausible that when the galaxy decomposes, it changes the density of the dark matter and the dark energy, and possibly when the density of the dark energy increases beyond a point it leads to the creation of dark matter, which on saturation leads to the creation of matter and when the density of matter in its most primitive form crosses a saturation point it becomes subatomic particles and then as atoms.
THE SPACE-TIME IN BRAHMA SUTRA OR THE COSMIC STRING MODEL
According to the Big Bang theory, space and time evolved after the explosion. Einstein also supports this premise. But it is only appropriate, as per this Brahma Sutra or the Cosmic String Model, space and time evolved before the explosion. Such a conceptual approach can unify all the constituent parts of the galaxy.
While the entire Milky Way rotates around its centre, its constituent stars and their planets also rotate in the same direction. This rotational force is explained as due to remnants of the original ‘Pranic Oscillation’ (Death Movement).
KEY POINTS ON THE ORIGIN OF SOLAR SYSTEM AS PER THE CURRENT SCIENTIFIC MODELS
The current model is that the Solar System began about 4.568 billion years ago with the gravitational collapse of a small part of a giant molecular cloud of about 150 K. Most of the collapsing mass collected in the centre, forming the Sun, while the rest flattened into a proto planetary disk out of which the planets, moons, asteroids, and other small Solar System bodies formed.
The Sun rotates on its axis with a periodicity of a month, but also revolves around the centre of the galaxy with a periodicity of about 200 million years.
BRAHMIC DISSOLUTION
Brahma Sutras describe existence and maintenance to the created (portions of the galaxy) the dissolution of the existent. Thus, the maintenance, as well as the destruction or dissolution process start the very moment the galaxy is created. This is so because the primordial particle cannot lie latent till its ‘liberation’ is attained. And hence, existence is only a relative, transient state. In dissolution, each of the created ‘modules’ are deconstructed.
CONCLUSION
We have seen a preliminary discussion on wonderful parallelism between string theory, which is the model developed by Physics in fusing quantum mechanics and gravitational force bringing out a model of the universe at microcosm to macrocosm level, and Brahma Sutra. In days to come, more developments in this direction of science and spirituality will emerge.
*The author is Visiting Scientist, Cochin University of Science and Technology, Kochi. He can be reached at nampoori@gmail.com.
