Tuesday, April 14, 2015

CONCEPT OF THEORY OF RELATIVITY IN VEDIC SCRIPTURES

Concept of Relativity in Light oriptures




This paper aims to present the concept of relativity from the eyes of the Vedic scriptures such as Bhagwat Gita and Srimad Bhagwatam. This concept, which revolutionized the modern physics in the twentieth century, had already been the part of the Vedic literature, which date back to time immemorial. In this paper, the major instances of time dilation enshrined in Bhagwat Gita and Srimad Bhagwatam are presented. The Vedic scriptures also contain explanation about the origin of the Universe as well as why it is expanding. Modern science can find answers to numerous unsolved puzzles through a study of the ancient Vedic scriptures with a scientific temperament.



Modern Theory of Relativity

 The modern theory of relativity came into being in 1905 when Albert Einstein showed how the measurements of time and space are affected by motion between an observer and what is being observed. This theory is termed as “special relativity”, since it is applicable to inertial frames of reference only. The most interesting feature of the theory is the so called “time dilation”, that is, a moving clock ticks slower than a clock

  Concept of Relativity in Vedic Scriptures

 A careful study of the Vedic literature reveals that the concept of relativity, especially the time dilation, had been known before it was postulated by the modern physicists. For example, Text 8.17 of Bhagwat Gita [2] reads: “By human calculation, a thousand ages taken together form the duration of Brahma’s one day. And such also is the duration of his night”.  A day of Satyaloka (Lord Brahmsa’s planet) called one kalpa, consists of 1000 cycles of the four Yugas, namely the Satya Yuga (1, 728, 000 years), Treta Yuga (1, 296, 000years), Dwapra Yuga (864, 000 years) and the Kali Yuga (432, 000 years), which add up to 4.3x109  years. Same is the duration of the night in the Satyaloka. During one day of Lord Brahma, it is stated that a total of 14 Manus appear on the earth. The total life of Lord Brahma is stated to be equal to hundred years formed by such days and nights together. By simple calculations, this works out to be equal to 311.40 x109 years.  The fact is further reinforced in the in Canto 9 of Srimad Bhagwatam [3], where the story of Revati (wife of Lord Balrama) is covered.

 It is stated that Kakudumi, Revati’s father, once visited the Satyaloka along with his daughter to meet Lord Brahma. At that time, Lord Brahma was engaged in listening a consort. Hence, Kakudumi and Revati had to wait for few minutes. Later, when Lord Brahma became free, he informed  Kakudumi and Revati that during this half an hour in Satyaloka, 27 cycles of the four Yugas have elapsed.      From the data concerning one full day of Lord Brahma, for an observer on Satyaloka, to = 1 day. For an observer on the earth, the corresponding time interval, t = 2x4.3x109x365 days. use of Eq. (1) reveals v ≈ c, that is, the relative speed between earth and the Satyaloka would be nearly equal to the speed of light. Further, from the point of view of an observer on earth, t = 1 day, to = t = 2x4.3x109x365 days, which, in view of Eq. (1), predicts an imaginary value for the relative speed v. Hence, in this sense, the effect of time dilation seems far from reciprocal as advocated by the modern theory. Text 8.18-8.19 of Bhagwat Gita [2] further state: “At the beginning of Lord Brahma’s day, all living entities become manifest from the unmanifested state, and thereafter, when the night falls, they are merged into the unmanifest again. Again and again, when Brahma’s day arrives, all living entities come into being, and with the arrival of Brahma’s night, they are helplessly   annihilated.


Suresh Bhalla
IIT DELHI

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