Align to a path - Highway to heaven

We all want to set best goals, or super destinations for life.  How we reach there could be through variety of routes. The journey also adds to the experience.  We do change it over time, based on progress as well as situations - but let us look at the big picture with simple case first.  It does help if we follow a path already taken by others for the same goal / destination.  Such an idea does not preclude the preference of a few to blaze new trails, which could be better / faster to the goal at times - or not.

Blaze a new trail, if you wish

One can choose a very smooth path - this would be the highways.  The roads that have been travelled by many, repeatedly, and so much, that the generations have taken effort to build highways on that path.  This is for the benefit of the next generations, which can be utilized.  One can choose a fresh path, which may have lots of trials and tribulations - but could be a new short path to the goal.

So, which path should we choose?  If we want to utilize the knowledge and paths of the ancestors, then we could use their methods, processes and guidelines. This will take us on the highway to heaven.  How are we to ensure we reach the goal/ destination?  We need to definitely align our vehicle as per the behaviour of people around us, and also follow the rules of the highway.  If we do not align ourselves, then we could get into trouble - delays, jams or even accidents.

Well laid paths to help our journey

Similarly, for the goal / destination of 'life', we have to align ourselves to the rules of the universe, while also keeping in mind the behaviour of people around us (family, friends and society).  We can align by using the experience passed on to us through the generations - the methods, processes and procedures. A driver need not understand how each and every part of the vehicle contributes towards the journey.  However, by using the important aspects that the driver needs to control & follow repeatedly, vigilantly, the driver can reach the destination/ goal.

There are hundreds of things that we do not understand about the Universe.  The arms of the galaxies do not seem to follow the same gravitational rules as the outer planets of a star system.  The presence of different atoms near the central atom seems to affect the behaviour of the group, which is not really explained by the elementary particles that make up these atoms.  Ether, dark matter, Awareness, consciousness, etc., are all throwing up lot of questions.

Even a bulb or fan can be made to work by a 2 year old child, by flipping on the switch, at the instructions of the elders.  The child need not know how electricity flows into the home, the mechanics of power generation, the filament of the bulb or the condenser & motor in the fan.  However the benefits of the action of flipping the switch is available to the child.  Hence, if we align ourselves along the right path, on the right highway - using the wisdom passed on to us by our ancestors, we can reach the heaven we covet.  We only need to use the simple methods given us by our ancestors to reap benefits and reach the goal/ destination... or in other words, a simple highway to heaven.

Within the rules & a highway to your destination

Pillar of fire - a simpler description of the universe?

Exploring the limits of the universe is something many scientists are very much interested in. On one end, we have so far reached deep down up to quarks and other similar particles, though early western scientists had thought 'atom' was the limit (something indivisible). On the other end, the scientists are pushing the 13-14 billion light-year extent of observable universe limit with better equipment and methods to look farther.

Let us switch to a story we learnt when young.  Many of you would have heard the story of the competition between Lord Vishnu and Lord Brahma, on who was superior. Lord Shiva appeared as an infinite pillar of fire and asked them to find the beginning or end of the pillar. Neither could do it, but Lord Brahma told a lie that he saw the top (beginning) of the pillar, while Lord Vishnu accepted that he could not see the bottom (end).

This story has triggered thoughts along scientific lines.  Most stories are not necessarily literal, and hence, is there a scientific view to this story? Representation of a view in fewer dimensions to make things simpler has been one of the methods to make people understand complex things.  At least it will not drive them away with the first paragraph.  Moreover, why will an 'infinite' consciousness have to display the 'self' as a 1 dimension pillar of fire?  Is this to simplify the concept to people who cannot comprehend the dimensions of the complex Brahman?

If we assume so, then what is the implied extent of the 'beginning' and 'end' of Lord Shiva?  At least in the 3-dimensional view, can we think of the miniscule 'end' of the 'consciousness' is to be explored in the smaller-and-smaller objects? Matter, made up of molecules which are made of atoms, in turn made up of electrons-protons-neutrons (and other particles), leading to finer particles called quarks... where does that end? It cannot end arbitrarily, isn't it? It is our own limitations with respect to what we can observe, or the tools we have so far - which makes us incapable of delving deeper than quarks as of now. However, if one were to think through, quarks would have to be some energy clouds, which themselves may have pockets of particles/ energies and so on, ad-infinitum.


Extending the thought experiment outwards (to the beginning) to the extent of the known universe, just because our ability to view only to about 13/14 billion light years in distance, does not mean that the universe has this limit. How big is the universe - can't it be infinite?  Why will there be an arbitrary limit - and on what basis?  Is it just because we have one or two theories, like the big-bang, (which 'seems to' explain (and predict some) events and behaviour of various observable items in the universe), which we want to hold on to (for sanity sake)?

In essence, can it mean that Lord Vishnu dived deep down inwards and searched for the smallest possible particle that makes up the universe and did not succeed?  Similarly, it may be implied that Lord Brahma tried to look at the extent of the universe and explored outwards, but may not have succeeded in finding the limit.  This is the thought process in trying to extrapolate this story to explain the limits of the known (and unknown) universe.

Such thinking does throw up a lot of questions.
A. How does the Big bang cycle get explained / fit into the infinite?
B. What happens to the concepts of time - both in the western Big-bang based concepts as well as the ancient Indian scientific concepts?
C. Can other seemingly conflicting concepts of 'Aham-brahmaasmi' and 'Time of Brahma' be explained and understood?
D. The relativity of time, the observer, the dimension, etc. - can they fit into the concepts and be understood?

These will be addressed in subsequent articles with the plausible explanations, views, thought experiments, etc.

Please continue to send links to related articles, feedback, etc., so that the shared learning can continue.

From First Principles - with Logic

Let us Start

Recently a friend remarked "We can start from first principles in science, and prove all the laws that have been derived, logically." The immediate reaction was "Isn't it true that we start from an 'assumption' or an 'axiom' as a first principle? There is no first principle, isn't it?" The next thought is that "To be able to prove everything logically, 'logic' itself must be above everything. On one hand rejecting other lines of thought of a supreme power or consciousness, while on the other, 'logic' being placed above all other axioms, derivations, etc., is absurd, isn't it? So, is science assuming that 'logic' is God?"

These kindle deep thinking on the basis for Science and whether it can provide all answers to us. If logic is not supreme (is there a 'logical' reason why it should have supreme status) and science starts with assumptions / axioms or other premises, then what method, tool or process can we employ to explore, understand and live in this world? We will have to still use 'logic' to help us, but with a different approach. We may have to restrict the 'logic' we use to not use arbitrary starting points.

How do we proceed? When we turn to the Vedas and Upanishads, we find an interesting 'logic' applied to describe the eternal consciousness. The Mandukya Upanishad describes it, using the 'neti, neti' method ('na iti' - not this), to eliminate hypotheses which are not true. At the end of such analysis and application of logic over variety of hypotheses, whatever is left has to be the truth. This, however, needs to be a very thorough application - not a superficial analysis of a few possible explanations, equations, descriptions, etc.

For day-to-day activities, survival, etc., 'formal logic' may be sufficient. We will have a starting point with assumptions and we want to come to a conclusion using 'logical' steps. This helps us deal with the everyday scenarios.  However, for deeper thinking, all-encompassing exploration, etc., this 'logic' is insufficient to help us.

Which came first?

Just like Godel's incompleteness theorem talks of any set of logical statements being insufficient to describe a complete system, 'logic' is also incapable of covering everything we want to know about the universe. It does not seem to lend itself to answer a simple question of "which came first" - the chicken or the egg.

Even Arthur Conan Doyle seems to have hinted at 'neti, neti' method in deduction of the truth by elimination of possibilities. "When you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." says he, in "The Case-book of Sherlock Holmes".

Hence, 'neti, neti' is the logic that can be applied for learning and understanding the universe in which we have manifested, with inputs from the faculties we have. We should not hesitate to use the results from scientific observations of the modern era in analysis and understanding. However it must be tempered with the knowledge that all 'impossible' possibilities must still be eliminated before arriving at conclusions.