Hindu cosmology & Astronomy -Part 3

`Veda' means knowledge. And Yoga-
Patanjali Yoga Sutra 1:2
Yogas chitta vritti nirodhah
Yoga is the mastery of fluctuations of the mind.

For quite some time scholars believed that this knowledge amounted to no

more than speculations regarding the self; this is what we are still told in some schoolbook

accounts. New insights in archaeology, astronomy, history of science and Vedic scholarship

have shown that such a view is wrong. We now know that Vedic knowledge embraced physics,

mathematics, astronomy, logic, cognition and other disciplines. We find that Vedic science

is the earliest science that has come down to us.

Briefly, the Vedic texts present a tripartite and recursive world view. The universe is

viewed as three regions of earth, space, and sky with the corresponding entities of Agni,

Indra, and Vishve Devah (all gods).

Vedic Rishi and old education institutes alse read modern science but name was different.

These were Vedic science-

logic (nyaya) and physics (vaisheshika), cosmology (sankhya) and psychology

(yoga), and language (mimamsa) and reality (vedanta).

The Five Levels

In the Taittiriya Upanishad, the individual is represented in 5 levels that enclose the individual's self. These levels, shown in an ascending order, are:

The physical body (annamaya kosha)

Energy sheath (pranamaya kosha)

Mental sheath (manomaya kosha)

Intellect sheath (vijnanamaya kosha)

Emotion sheath (anandamaya kosha )

The emotion sheath, is innermost .

This is a recognition of the fact that eventually meaning is communicated by associations

The energy that underlies physical and mental processes is called prana.


Further description of above-

According to yogic theory & philosophy, a human being is comprised of 5 layers. These layers are called koshas, or sheath. Each layer is more subtle than the other.

The first is annamaya kosha, or literally mean ‘food sheath’ – it is the physical body: the bones, muscles, tissues, organs, bloods, etc. The grossest of the layers. It is made of the elements: earth, water, fire, air, and space. It is on this layer the gateway to the external world, the five receiving senses and the five action sense are located, so it is through this layer that one is experiencing life.

The second is pranamaya kosha, or the energy body, the prana layer. More subtle than the physical body, this layer not visible to the naked eye, but one can feel it. The chakras, or energy centers, are within this layer. Without prana, there is no life.

The third is manomaya kosha, the mind body. This is the mind that interacts with the inputs from the senses, carry out day to day operation of keeping oneself alive and well – eg if there’s a danger, move away – if there’s a reward, come closer. Manomaya kosha is full of emotions – a reaction to the input from the senses. It is key for survival.

The fourth is vijnanamaya kosha, sometimes called the higher mind. Also referred to as the ‘wisdom body’ – this is where awareness, insight, discernment, and consciousness located. Without awareness, one will be only reacting to whatever comes one’s way. With awareness, one can stop to only reacting and choose to response with intention.

The fifth is called anandamaya kosha, the bliss body. Sometimes also called the causal body. This is the innermost layer covering the essence – the soul, or spirit, or self, or atman. The unchanging eternal reality.

Using a computer as analogy, annamaya kosha is like the hardware. The receiving sense organs are keyboards, mouse, touchscreen, microphone. The action sense organs are the monitor, speaker, printer. Pranamaya kosha is like the electricity powering the computer – without plugging it into the electricity the computer can’t turn on. It’s the current that goes through the hardwares. Manomaya kosha is like the operating system – basic operation of the computer is controlled from here. Vijnanamaya kosha is like the more advanced software, with which the computer can interact in a more useful way, be productive, be of service. I can’t think yet of the parallel for anandamaya kosha in a computer… can you think of one? Although not yet complete, I think this computer analogy helps me understand more about the koshas.

The Structure of the Mind

The Sankhya system takes the mind as consisting of ¯ve components: manas, ahankara,

chitta(MEMORY BANK) buddhi, and atman. Again these categories parallel those of Figure ABOVE.

This mental complex surrounds the innermost aspect of consciousness which is called

atman, the self, brahman, or jiva.

In his famous paper on the origin of mathematics, Seidenberg (1978) concluded: Old-

Babylonia [1700 BC] got the theorem of Pythagoras from India.

Barend van Nooten (1993) has shown that binary numbers were known at the time of

Pingala's Chhandahshastra. Pingala, who lived around the early Frst century B.C.E., used

binary numbers to calssify Vedic Mantras.

The Puranas speak of countless universes, time  owing at different rates for different observers and so on.

Advanced Ancient Indian Science-

The Mahabharata speaks of an embryo being divided into one hundred parts each becoming, after maturation in a separate pot, a healthy baby; this is how the Kaurava brothers are born. There is also mention of an embryo, conceived in one womb, being transferred to the womb of another woman from where it is born; the transferred embryo is Balarama and this is how he is a brother to Krishna although he was born to Rohini and not to Devaki.

There is an ancient mention of space travellers wearing airtight suits in the epic Mahabharata which may be classi¯ed as an early form of science ¯ction. According to the well-known Sanskritist J.A.B. van Buitenen, in the accounts in Book 3 called The Razing of Saubha" and The War of the Yakshas":

the aerial city is nothing but an armed camp with fame-throwers and thundering cannon, no doubt a spaceship. The name of the demons is also revealing: they were Niv¹atakavacas, clad in airtight armor," which can hardly be anything but space suits. (van Buitenen, 1975, page 202)
Universes de¯ned recursively are described in the famous episode of Indra and the ants
in Brahmavaivarta Purana. Here Vishnu, in the guise of a boy, explains to Indra that
the ants he sees walking on the ground have all been Indras in their own solar systems in
different times! These Fights of imagination are to be traced to more than a straightforward
generalization of the motions of the planets into a cyclic universe.


Aryabhata

Aryabhata is the author of the first of the later siddhantas called Aryabhatiyam which

sketches his mathematical, planetary, and cosmic theories. This book is divided into four
chapters: (i) the astronomical constants and the sine table, (ii) mathematics required for
computations, (iii) division of time and rules for computing the longitudes of planets using
eccentrics and epicycles, (iv) the armillary sphere, rules relating to problems of trigonometry
and the computation of eclipses.
The parameters of Aryabhatiyam have, as their origin, the commencement of Kaliyuga
on Friday, 18th February, 3102 B.C.E. He wrote another book where the epoch is a bit
different.

Aryabhata took the earth to spin on its axis; this idea appears to have been his innovation.

He also considered the heavenly motions to go through a cycle of 4.32 billion years; here he
went with an older tradition, but he introduced a new scheme of subdivisions within this
great cycle. According to the historian Hugh Thurston, \Not only did Aryabhata believe
that the earth rotates, but there are glimmerings in his system (and other similar systems)
of a possible underlying theory in which the earth (and the planets) orbits the sun, rather
than the sun orbiting the earth. The evidence is that the basic planetary periods are relative
to the sun."

That Aryabhata was aware of the relativity of motion is clear from this passage in his

book,Just as a man in a boat sees the trees on the bank move in the opposite direction, so
an observer on the equator sees the stationary stars as moving precisely toward the west."

Varahamihira

Varahamihira (died 587) lived in Ujjain and he wrote three important books: Panchasiddhan-

tika, Brihat Samhita, and Brihat Jataka. The ¯rst is a summary of  five early astronomical
systems including the Surya Siddhanta. (Incidently, the modern Surya Siddhanta is different
in many details from this ancient one.) Another system described by him, the Paitamaha
Siddhanta, appears to have many similarities with the ancient Vedanga Jyotisha of Lagadha.
Brihat Samhita is a compilataion of an assortment of topics that provides interesting
details of the beliefs of those times. Brihat Jataka is a book on astrology which appears to
be considerably influenced by Greek astrology.

Brahmagupta

Brahmagupta of Bhilamala in Rajasthan, who was born in 598, wrote his masterpiece,

Brahmasphuta Siddhanta, in 628. His school, which was a rival to that of Aryabhata, has
been very influential in western and northern India. Brahmagupta's work was translated into
Arabic in 771 or 773 at Baghdad and it became famous in the Arabic world as Sindhind.
One of Brahmagupta's chief contributions is the solution of a certain second order inde-
terminate equation which is of great significance in number theory.
Another of his books, the Khandakhadyaka, remained a popular handbook for astronomical computations for centuries.

Bhaskara

Bhaskara (born 1114), who was from the Karnataka region, was an outstanding mathemati-

cian and astronomer. Amongst his mathematical contributions is the concept of di®erentials.

He was the author of Siddhanta Shiromani, a book in four parts: (i) Lilavati on arithmetic,

(ii) Bijaganita on algebra, (iii) Ganitadhyaya, (iv) Goladhyaya on astronomy. He epicyclic-

eccentric theories of planetary motions are more developed than in the earlier siddhantas.

Subsequent to Bhaskara we see a °ourishing tradition of mathematics and astronomy

in Kerala which saw itself as a successor to the school of Aryabhata.

Madhava

Madhava (c. 1340-1425) developed a procedure to determine the positions of the moon every

36 minutes. He also provided methods to estimate the motions of the planets. He gave power
series expansions for trigonometric functions, and for pi correct to eleven decimal places.

Nilakantha Somayaji

Nilakantha (c. 1444-1545) was a very prolific scholar who wrote several works on astronomy.

It appears that Nilakantha found the correct formulation for the equation of the center of
the planets and his model must be considered a true heliocentric model of the solar system.
He also improved upon the power series techniques of Madhava.

The methods developed by the Kerala mathematicians were far ahead of the European

mathematics of the day.

7 Concepts of space, time, and matter

Yoga-Vasishtha (YV) is an ancient Indian text, over 29,000 verses long, traditionally attributed to Valmiki, author of the epic Ramayana- Of which some random translations are given here from

book done by Venkatesananda (1984).

Time

² Time cannot be analyzed... Time uses two balls known as the sun and the moon for

its pastime. [16]

² The world is like a potter's wheel: the wheel looks as if it stands still, though it revolves

at a terrific speed. [18]

² Just as space does not have a fixed span, time does not have a fixed span either. Just

as the world and its creation are mere appearances, a moment and an epoch are also

imaginary. [55]

² Infinite consciousness held in itself the notion of a unit of time equal to one-millionth

of the twinkling of an eye: and from this evolved the time-scale right up to an epoch

consisting of several revolutions of the four ages, which is the life-span of one cosmic

creation. Infinite consciousness itself is uninvolved in these, for it is devoid of rising

and setting (which are essential to all time-scales), and it devoid of a beginning, middle

and end. [72]

Space

² There are three types of space|the psychological space, the physical space and the

in¯nite space of consciousness. [52]

The in¯nite space of individed consciousness is that which exists in all, inside and

outside... The ¯nite space of divided consciousness is that which created divisions of

time, which pervades all beings... The physical space is that in which the elements

exist. The latter two are not independent of the ¯rst. [96]

² Other universes. On the slopes of a far-distant mountain range there is a solid rock

within which I dwell. The world within this rock is just like yours: it has its own

inhabitants, ...the sun and the moon and all the rest of it. I have been in it for

countless aeons. [402]

² The entire universe is contained in a subatomic partice, and the three worlds exist

within one strand of hair. [404]

Matter

² In every atom there are worlds within worlds. [55]

² (There are) countless universes, diverse in composition and space-time structure... In

every one of them there are continents and mountains, villages and cities inhabited by

people who have their time-space and life-span. [401-2]

Experience

² Direct experience alone is the basis for all proofs... That substratum is the experiencing

intelligence which itself becomes the experiencer, the act of experiencing, and the

experience. [36]

² Everyone has two bodies, the one physical and the other mental. The physical body

is insentient and seeks its own destruction; the mind is ¯nite but orderly. [124]

² I have carefully investigated, I have observed everything from the tips of my toes to the

top of my head, and I have not found anything of which I could say, `This I am.' Who

is `I'? I am the all-pervading consciousness which is itself not an object of knowledge or

knowing and is free from self-hood. I am that which is indivisible, which has no name,

which does not undergo change, which is beyond all concepts of unity and diversity,

which is beyond measure. [214]

² I remember that once upon a time there was nothing on this earth, neither trees and

plants, nor even mountains. For a period of eleven thousand years the earth was

covered by lava. In those days there was neither day nor night below the polar region:

for in the rest of the earth neither the sun nor the moon shone. Only one half of the

polar region was illumined.

Then demons ruled the earth. They were deluded, powerful and prosperous, and the

earth was their playground.

Apart from the polar region the rest of the earth was covered with water. And then

for a very long time the whole earth was covered with forests, except the polar region.

Then there arose great mountains, but without any human inhabitants. For a period

of ten thousand years the earth was covered with the corpses of the demons. [280]

Mind

² The same in¯nite self conceives within itself the duality of oneself and the other. [39]

² Thought is mind, there is no distinction between the two. [41]

² The body can neither enjoy nor su®er. It is the mind alone that experiences. [109-110]

² The mind has no body, no support and no form; yet by this mind is everything con-

sumed in this world. This is indeed a great mystery. He who says that he is destroyed

by the mind which has no substantiality at all, says in e®ect that his head was smashed

by the lotus petal... The hero who is able to destroy a real enemy standing in front of

him is himself destroyed by this mind which is [non-material].

² The intelligence which is other than self-knowledge is what constitutes the mind. [175]

Complementarity

² The absolute alone exists now and for ever. When one thinks of it as a void, it is

because of the feeling one has that it is not void; when one thinks of it as not-void, it

is because there is a feeling that it is void. [46]

² All fundamental elements continued to act on one another|as experiencer and experience|

and the entire creation came into being like ripples on the surface of the ocean. And,

they are interwoven and mixed up so e®ectively that they cannot be extricated from

one another till the cosmic dissolution. [48]

Consciousness

² The entire universe is forever the same as the consciousness that dwells in every atom.

[41]

² The ¯ve elements are the seed fo which the world is the tree; and the eternal conscious-

ness if the seed of the elements. [48]

² Cosmic consciousness alone exists now and ever; in it are no worlds, no created beings.

That consciousness re°ected in itself appears to be creation. [49]

² This consciousness is not knowable: when it wishes to become the knowable, it is known

as the universe. Mind, intellect, egotism, the ¯ve great elements, and the world|all

these innumerable names and forms are all consciousness alone. [50]

² The world exists because consciousness is, and the world is the body of consciousness.

There is no division, no di®erence, no distinction. Hence the universe can be said

to be both real and unreal: real because of the reality of consciousness which is its

own reality, and unreal because the universe does not exist as universe, independent of

consciousness. [50]

² Consciousness is pure, eternal and in¯nite: it does not arise nor cease to be. It is ever

there in the moving and unmoving creatures, in the sky, on the mountain and in ¯re

and air. [67]

² Millions of universes appear in the in¯nite consciousness like specks of dust in a beam

of light. In one small atom all the three worlds appear to be, with all their components

like space, time, action, substance, day and night. [120]

² The universe exists in in¯nte consciousness. In¯nite consciousness is unmanifest,

though omnipresent, even as space, though existing everywhere, is manifest. [141]

² The manifestation of the omnipotence of in¯nite consciousness enters into an alliance

with time, space and causation. Thence arise in¯nite names and forms. [145]

² The Lord who is in¯nite consciousness is the silent but alert witness of this cosmic

dance. He is not di®erent from the dancer (the cosmic natural order) and the dance

(the happenings). [296]

Might then one accept the claim of Srinivasa Ramanujan that his theorems were revealed to him in his dreams by the goddess Namagiri? This claim, so persistently made by Ramanujan, has generally been dismissed by his biographers (see, for example, Kanigel, 1991). Were Ramanujan's astonishing discoveries instrumented by the autonomously creative potential of consciousness, represented by him by the image of Namagiri? If that be the case then the marvellous imagination shown in Yoga-Vasishtha and other Indian texts becomes easier to comprehend.

Is nature and animals, human all are molecule- Yes partly with consciousness.

	H		H2O	[C10H16O13N5P2]N	CE10HE10OE10NE9PE8 SE8CaE8KE6ClE6NaE6MgE6FeE5SiE4MnE2CoE2		CE27HE27OE27NE26PE25SE24CaE25KE24ClE24NaE24MgE24FeE23FE23ZnE22SiE22CuE21 BE21IE20SnE20MnE20SeE20 CrE20NiE20MoE19CoE19VE18
13.7 BYA	Seconds after Bang	13.2 BYA	4.4 BYA	4.1 BYA	3.9 BYA	45 MYA	150,000 Year Ago

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