My dearest high school love has been physics. Like Aladdin taking princess Jasmine on a trip among stars, it has taken me on trips spanning light-years. As I browsed my mind over atoms, fluids, moving objects, light and everything else in my physics classes, I have found myself fascinated. Mundane matters take a backseat when you’re studying about the universe, I realized. Many planetary revolutions later, I found the same awe when I stumbled upon scriptures from my land! Sharing some commonalities between the two:
The feel of expansion
“By contemplating water, I became water. Then I became the fire element through the contemplation of that element.” - Rishi Vasistha in the Yoga Vasistha.
It is simple. Your mind becomes what you study or put your focus on. When you study about the universe, your mind becomes one with it. When you imagine the number of light years a star is away from something in your physics class, you're expanding your mind to that length too. When you imagine out physics problems involving light rays, objects moving in isolation, our minds assume their forms at a subtle level. Physics expanded my mind from petty high school drama to the marvellous workings of the universe.
Interestingly, I found an intense feeling of expansion when I studied scriptures on advaita or non-duality. When scripture ‘Ashtavakra Gita’ talks about the world being as wrongly perceived like a rope perceived as a snake in darkness, you realize all your judgments and perceptions about the world could be wrong. You feel expanded as if your notions about the world were holding you from experiencing the vastness that you already are.
Fascinating common concepts
Think of the most fascinating theories physicists have discovered. You’ll find them in the scriptures from the east as well!
An example is that of quantum mechanics which says the whole world is made up of waves. Now sample this:
“The same consciousness that shines in the sun also dwells in the little worm that crawls in a hole on this earth.” - The Yoga Vasistha
Quotes like above make several appearances in scriptures like the Isha Upanishad, the Yoga Vasistha, and Ashtavakra Gita. Though there is no mention of the word ‘wave’, there are several instances where it is stated that the whole world is made of the same consciousness.
Another example is that of dark matter mentioned in the Rig Veda. Check out the lucid explanation of the quote about dark matter from Rig Veda by Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:
Similarly, concepts like the theory of relativity have been explained in scriptures like the Yoga Vasistha. Here is an article which mentions the few times the Yoga Vasistha explained such concepts.
Crazy possibilities ahead
Physics opened my door to the universe and many of its crazy possibilities. Think about atoms rotating because of magnetic fields and changing the speed of time if you could travel more than the speed of light. The scriptures have done the same for me. They talk about laws of life that can have crazy possibilities. For instance, the Yoga Vasistha talks about world being as unreal as a dream. If that is true, all my worries, problems, happiness are just as unreal, a very unbelievable fact when I first read about it.
Studying eastern scriptures is a fulfilling experience - more so for a physics enthusiast. Hope you find bliss in them too!
Relive the bliss of physics and explore new dimensions about the universe with Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s easy to understand commentaries on a variety of Vedic scriptures:
www.artoflivingshop.com
Written by: Vanditaa Kothari
Inspired by scriptures, the Ashtavakra Gita and the Yoga Vasistha
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