GOD IS INFINITY

In the Rig Veda there are 5 hymns constituting an important dialogue between Lord Indra and Sage Agastya that reflects the significance of traversing the evolutionary path of consciousness, that seems to serve as a crucial pre-requisite to understanding the true nature of the Supreme Absolute Reality (God).

The verses exemplify how sage Agastya, by the sheer force of his thoughts is breaking through the barriers of his mind, reaching the realm of God without first being developed as a fully functional being in all his levels of consciousness.

The eagerness to experience God gets the better of sage Agastya and his senses and he refuses to progressively surrender to the stepping stone (which in this case refers to Lord Indra) in his quest for God. At this point, sage Agastya gets pushed back by Indra who does not allow him to proceed to the realm of God.

Indra says-“that which is beyond time and space (God) cannot be known by that which is in time and space” (Agastya and other mortals like us).

Indra goes on to explain that it is the progressive transcendence (of ego-consciousness) through divine activities that will take a mortal towards the immortal truth. Sage Agastya thenceforth realizes his folly, surrenders his will to Indra and goes on to execute his mandated activities through Indra.

Ego transcendence
One of the obvious implications that can be drawn from the verses is that the sense of “I” that we adorn and the identification with our ego-consciousness is often what prevents us from experiencing the Divine. That would also probably explain why meditation, yoga, etc. are delineated as paths in Hinduism to achieve that distance and ‘dis-identification’ from the ego-centric self.

One could however, question the whole point or practical significance of transcending the ego-bound self, to which it can be reasoned that detachment (the kind that Lord Krishna expounds in the Gita) would actually entail a greater sense of involvement and participation in life’s experiences without being shaken or affected by them. It would imply a sense of free-experiencing that is unimpeded by our conditioned beliefs, emotions, memories, reactions, etc. enabling us to understand things from a larger frame of reference.

Modern psychology and cognitive science is only now exploring the frontiers of consciousness (exemplified in Vedanta) and its impact on human life and behaviour. Current researches (Joel Krueger) in the field also indicate that transcending of the personalized ego often leads to a unified mode of awareness and “That a scholar acquires a new insight, or a moralist a new motive, or an artist a new imagination, or a religious figure a new awakening, are all based upon a disclosure of this kind of unity in consciousness” which is only made possible by that ego transcendence.

Levels of Consciousness
Sri Aurobindo (scholar of the Vedas) was one of the first pioneers in the field of consciousness studies. His work was further compounded by researcher Ken Wilber who (based on Aurobindo’s Vedic insights and Piaget’s Cognitive Development) established the ‘ten levels of consciousness’ that humans had to develop through, re-affirming the fact that psychological and spiritual development go hand in hand; that we can’t have one without the other.
According to the Vedic template reflected in the Taittiriya Upanishad there are five sheaths of existence/being- 1) Anna-maya kosa (physical), 2) Prana-maya kosa (vital), 3) Mano-maya kosa(mental), 4) Vijnana-maya kosa (intellectual) and 5) Ananda-maya kosa (bliss).

The ten levels of consciousness derived from this template are:
1) The Sensoriphysical– reflecting the realm of matter, sensation and perception.
2) Phantasmic-Emotional- the emotional-sexual level (seat of libido and instincts)
3) Representational mind– level of concepts and symbols, fantasy, ego-centric thinking.
4) Rule/role mind– thinking in terms of concrete things and events.
5) Formal-reflexive mind- the level of reflective, abstract thinking and introspection.
6) Vision-logic- the level of synthesis and integration.

The higher levels are :

7) Psychic,

8 ) Subtle (level of soul), 

9) Causal (level of spirit) 

10) Non-dual (Brahman-Atman)

Our centre of gravity is said to rest in a certain level on that spectrum and our thoughts and actions are defined by that level of functioning. Evolution of consciousness then requires a shift to higher levels. Wilber believes that the majority of humankind is still operating on the Mental, or Egoic, level, while only a few have attained higher spiritual consciousness.

Consequently it’s important to note that if an individual has spiritual experiences but his consciousness has only developed to the level of the ‘rep’ mind (level 3) for instance then he won’t be able to understand that spiritual experience in a broad way and won’t be able to integrate it. On the contrary he is more likely to distort the experience for people tend to interpret their religious/spiritual experience according to the level of mental development they are at. This does not imply that there are different levels of God, but that there are different levels of interpretation. The person at the highest levels of consciousness will have a more integrated and holistic understanding of the Supreme Reality.

It’s also interesting to note that those who are at the ‘earlier stages of development’ often tend to think that “their truth is the only truth” as they lack the ability to integrate alternate perspectives. To explain the tangible effects of this phenomenon, Swami Vivekananda once said “Whenever a prophet got into the super-conscious state by heightening his emotional nature, he brought away from it not only some truths, but some fanaticism also, some superstition which injured the world as much as the greatness of the teaching helped.”

Eminent author Ram Swarup also explains that even though a person has spiritual experiences, if he has not transcended his ego then his connection with the Divine will be distorted and filtered through his immature mind and his resulting beliefs and actions will prove to be very destructive, as can be witnessed from the history of imperial movements and regimes.  He claims that this happens :

  “because they mix spiritual truth and ego together, which is  a very dangerous and volatile combination… as nectar mixed with poison becomes poison”. 

The prevalent culture also stands as testimony to this phenomenon that is now witnessing the spread of myriad psuedo visionaries with the messiah complex.
It stands to reason then that without the anchor of integrated development a person can be in danger of falling prey to the lower nature of his self which perpetuates various forms of dysfunctions from a simple lack of objectivity to extreme fanaticism.

Researcher Prem Sabhlok also asserts :

“The ancient, medieval and modern history of India as well as of the world has confirmed that with material knowledge based on sense experiences and intellectual reasons and arguments alone, any search for God had always led to fanaticism, fundamentalism, communal tension, destruction of the temples, gurudwaras, churches, etc. of the same God and even has been cause of wars between the nations. With material knowledge, the same God appears different to various sections of the people.”

This suggests that it is often imperative for a super-conscious spiritual experience to be supported by a corresponding heightened psychological development. More importantly, it indicates that material knowledge without spiritual growth can be counterproductive as there is something crucial missing in human awareness that causes us to fall victim to all sorts of delusions and distortions. Vedas refers to this as ‘avidya’-ignorance and goes on to explain how we need to reach a certain stage in consciousness for this avidya to dissolve.

Evolution of Consciousness and Enlightenment

As we progress to higher levels of development on that scale our consciousnesses expands.  “So the more narrow, fragmented and restricted our mode of consciousness,” says Wilber, “the more prone we will be to experiencing psychological disorders or distortions. And the more expanded and heightened our level of consciousness, the more scope we will have for self-actualization and enlightenment.

Therefore… enlightenment in this context implies an expansion of consciousness from the isolated, alienated individual to a kind of global cosmic consciousness.”  It then overall alludes to a progressive expansion from parts of the psyche (persona) to the psyche (ego) to the environment (ecological) and finally to the universe-manifest and unmanifest (Brahman).

While it is often reiterated that there is only one indivisible, all-pervading and immanent reality (Brahman), Vedic metaphysics makes it clear that it is only at the stage of “Turiya” (highest level of superconsciousness) that a person experientially discerns and understands this One Supreme Reality (God) in all its magnitude and the vehement effect of Maya -the cosmic illusion then dissolves.

So contrary to Darwin’s theory of evolution and according to Vedic scriptures, one form of species does not evolve into another, rather it is the soul that evolves through the various levels of consciousness and this transition is not so much biological as much as it is spiritual.

Aurobindo declares, “Man is a transitional being. He is not final. The step from man to superman is the next approaching achievement in the earth’s evolution. It is inevitable because it is at once the intention of the inner spirit and the logic of Nature’s process.”

1. Indra: It is not now, nor is It tomorrow; who knoweth that which is Supreme and Wonderful? It has motion and action in the consciousness of another, but when It is approached by the thought, It vanishes.

2. Agastya: Why dost thou seek to smite us, O Indra? The Maruts are thy brothers. By them accomplish perfection; slay us not in our struggle.

3. Indra: Why, O my brother Agastya, art thou my friend, yet settest thy thought beyond me? For well do I know how to us thou willest not to give thy mind.

4. Indra: Let them make ready the altar, let them set Agni in blaze in front. It is there, the awakening of the consciousness to Immortality. Let us two extend for thee thy effective sacrifice.

5. Agastya: O Lord of substance over all substances of being, thou art the master in force! O Lord of Love over the powers of love, thou art the strongest to hold in status! Do thou, O lndra, agree with the Maruts, then enjoy the offerings in the ordered method of the Truth.

References:

-Rig Veda – Book 1 – Verse 170 – Hymns CLXX (1 – 5)
-Taittriya Upanishad-Sri Aurobindo (1956) The Secret of the Veda
-Ram Swarup (1980) The word as revelation: Names of Gods.
-Vivekananda: Complete Works, Vol.1, Raja Yoga, Ch.7: “Dhyana and Samadhi”-Ken Wilber (1977) Spectrum of Consciousness
-Prem Sabhlok- Glimpses of Vedic Metaphysics-Joel Krueger (2007) The Varieties of Pure Experience: William James and Kitaro Nishida on Consciousness and Embodiment
-hinduism.co.za/kosas.htm
-Jean Piaget- Cognitive Development

From www.hinduhumsrights.info

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

References

Sarma, K.V. 1985. A survey of source materials. Indian Journal of History of Science

20.1-20.

Staal, F. 1988. Universals. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Venkatesananda, S. (tr.), 1984. The Concise Yoga V¹asis. t.ha. Albany: State University of

New York Press.

Barrow, J. 1992. Pi in the Sky. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Brown, J.W. 1994. Morphogenesis and mental process. Development and Psychopathology.

6.551-563.

van Buitenen, J.A.B. 1975. The Mah¹abh¹arata, vol. 2. Chicago: University of Chicago

Press.

Chapple, C. 1984. Introduction and bibliography in Venkatesananda (1984).

Dasgupta, S. 1975 (1932). A History of Indian Philosophy. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.

Feuerstein, G., S. Kak and D. Frawley, 1995. In Search of the Cradle of Civilization.

Wheaton: Quest Books.

Filliozat, J. 1970. The expansion of Indian medicine abroad. In Lokesh Chandra (ed.)

India's Contributions to World Thought and Culture. Madras: Vivekananda Memorial

Committee. 67-70.

Francfort, H.-P. 1992. Evidence for Harappan irrigation system in Haryana and Rajasthan.

Eastern Anthropologist. 45.87-103.

Frawley, D. 1994. Planets in the Vedic literature. Indian Journal of History of Science.

29.495-506.

Kak, S. 1986. The Nature of Physical Reality. New York: Peter Lang.

1987. The Paninian approach to natural language processing. Intl. Journal of

Approximate Reasoning. 1.117-130.

1990. Kalidasa and the Agnimitra problem. Journal of the Oriental Institute 40.51-

54.

1994a. The Astronomical Code of the R.

gveda. New Delhi: Aditya.

1994b. The evolution of writing in India. Indian Journal of History of Science.

28.375-388.

1994c. India at Century's End. New Delhi: VOI.

1995a. The astronomy of the age of geometric altars. Quarterly Journal of the Royal

Astronomical Society. 36.385-396.

1995b. From Vedic science to Ved¹anta. The Adyar Library Bulletin. 59.1-36.

1996a. Knowledge of planets in the third millennium B.C. Quarterly Journal of the

Royal Astronomical Society. 37.709-715.

1996b. Re°ections in clouded mirrors: selfhood in animals and machines. In Pri-

bram, K.H. and J. King (eds.) Learning as Self-Organization. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence

Erlbaum.

Kanigel, R. 1991. The Man Who Knew In¯nity: A Life of the Mathematical Genius,

Ramanujan. New York: C. Scribner's.

Kulaichev, A.P. 1984. µSriyantra and its mathematical properties. Indian Journal of History

of Science 19.279-292.

McClain, E.G. 1978. The Myth of Invariance. Boulder: Shambhala.

Sarma, K.V. 1985. A survey of source materials. Indian Journal of History of Science

20.1-20.

Seidenberg, A. 1978. The origin of mathematics. Archive for History of Exact Sciences.

18.301-342.

Sengupta, P.C. 1947. Ancient Indian Chronology. Calcutta: University of Calcutta Press.

Staal, F. 1988. Universals. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

van Nooten, B. 1993. Binary numbers in Indian antiquity. Journal of Indian Philosophy.

21.31-50.

Venkatesananda, S. (tr.), 1984. The Concise Yoga V¹asis. t.ha. Albany: State University of

New York Press.

Hindu Cosmology -Part 2

Hindu Cosmology upholds the idea that creation is timeless, having no beginning in time. Each creation is preceded by dissolution and each dissolution is followed by creation. The whole cosmos exists in two states - the unmanifested or undifferentiated state and the manifested or differentiated state. This has been going on eternally. There are many universes - all follow the same rhythm, creation and dissolution (the systole and diastole of the cosmic heart). According to the Bhagavad Gita this srishti (creation) and pralaya (dissolution) recur at a period of 1,000 mahayuga or 4.32 billion years or 4,320 million years:

For a thousand ages lasts One day of Brahma, And for a thousand ages one such night;
This knowing, men will know (what is meant by) day and night.
At the day's dawning all things manifest; Spring forth from the Unmanifest;
And then at nightfall they dissolve again, In (that same mystery) surnamed "Unmanifest."

Introduction

The Rig Veda describes the origin of the universe as:

"Then was not non-existence nor existence: there was no realm of air, no sky beyond it. What covered in, and where? and what gave shelter? Was water there, unfathomed depth of water? Death was not then, nor was there aught immortal: no sign was there, the day's and night's divider. That One Thing, breathless, breathed by its own nature: apart from it was nothing whatsoever. Darkness there was at first concealed in darkness this. All was indiscriminated chaos. All that existed then was void and form less: by the great power of Warmth was born that Unit. Thereafter rose Desire in the beginning, Desire, the primal seed and germ of Spirit. Sages who searched with their heart's thought discovered the existent's kinship in the non-existent. Transversely was their severing line extended: what was above it then, and what below it? There were begetters, there were mighty forces, free action here and energy up yonder. Who verily knows and who can here declare it, whence it was born and whence comes this creation? The devas are later than this world's production. Who knows then whence it first came into being? He, the first origin of this creation, whether he formed it all or did not form it, Whose eye controls this world in highest heaven, he verily knows it, or perhaps he knows not" - (Rig Veda 10.129.1-7)

Structure of the universe

The Yugas

• Satya or Krta (1,728,000 years): Satya means "truth"; the age is also known as Krta, "action," i.e., the age in which the people did unquestioningly what their benevolent elders told them.

• Treta (1,296,000 years): Treta means "three," the third age, counting backwards from the present: also the age in which the feelings and forces of good are as three parts, and those of evil as one; also the age in which people were specially "protected," trayate, by their elders.

• Dva-para (864,000 years): Dva-para means "two-sided," hence doubt also.

• Kali (432,000 years) which rotates in succession. Kali means "discord," "struggle".

And all of these add to 4,320,000 years. Now, these four yugas, taken together, constitute one Mahayuga. One thousand Mahayugas are one day of Brahma. Brahma's one day is one Kalpa. So one day of Brahma will be 432 crores or 4,320 million years or 4.32 billion years. A similar expanse of time will make His one night, and that is another Kalpa. Our wildest imagination staggers in conceiving Brahma's life-span. This is the expansive view of time. No other culture had this unique vision of the infinity of time as well as the infinity of space.
From  veda.wikidot.com
vedic mathematics