Trace the cause from the effect

If you want to know the origin of the universe, keep tracing back the cause, starting from the effect. You will eventually reach the starting point.

For example, you see a huge tree with hundreds of branches, thousands of leaves and so on. How did this tree come into existence?

Something can’t come from nothing

No matter what science says, ancient Indians were clear that something cannot come from nothing. What was that ‘thing’ which this world came from? 

 

For want of a better word, ancient Indians called that thing as Sath – which literally means existence. This world came from Sath and not from nothing. So ‘in the beginning’ there was this Sath that created or took the form of ‘everything’ that we see around – the world, the beings in it, and so on.

How does one infer that?

We will see that in the next post.

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This is a series of posts based on the well known discussion in Chändogya Upanishad (part of Säma Veda, believed to have been recorded more than 3000 years ago) regarding ultimate truths.

Matter is not everything

Science says that everything is material. There is nothing else. Now the question is - "why is a living person living and a corpse a dead body? A living body as well as a dead body are both made up of the same set of basic elements. But one is alive and the other is dead. Why?"

Understand the fundamentals

There are probably infinitely many things in this world. Each is different in its own way. Each has a different use. Each has a different property. But all these infinitely many things are made of 3 fundamental particles – electrons, protons and neutrons. These 3 particles in different combinations and different configurations form all that that exists in this world.

You can spend your entire lifetime to understand each of the things in this world. Or if you understand these three fundamental particles and their properties, you almost know everything in this world. Rest are just the details!

Ancient Indians also talked about three fundamental things that formed everything in this material world. These three things are sathwa, rajas and tamas. Sathwa has no mass but it only has potential energy. It is like the proton. Rajas also has no mass but it has kinetic energy. It is like an electron.  And finally, the tamas is all mass and nothing else. It is like the neutron. 

The ancient Indians believed that once you know these three fundamental elements that form the entire material world, you know everything. 

Well, almost.  What is it that we left out?

We will see that in the next post.

Start              Next           Previous

This is a series of posts based on the well known discussion in Chändogya Upanishad (part of Säma Veda, believed to have been recorded more than 3000 years ago) regarding ultimate truths.

Do you know ‘that’?

What is it ‘that’ I am talking about? It is ‘that’ after knowing which you know everything; it is ‘that’ after hearing which you have heard all; it is that after understanding which there is nothing more to understand. 

Does any such thing exist?

Truth of truth

I came across a self claimed rationalist blogger vociferously declaring that belief in God is just a superstition since no such God exists. In response, another self claimed Guru counseled that the existence of God cannot be argued upon, but should be just experienced.

Which of these conclusions are correct? Actually, as far as truth is concerned, it is always relative. There is no absolute truth. If you are a person who can see the world, the entire world is colorful. But, for a born blind person, it could be sound full or even touch full but never colorful.

Most of the time, what is true is not that important but in what way it affects us is important. All truths have an associated weight. If two truths have the same weight, you can accept either of them.

If a Baba says that by breathing in a particular way, blockage in your arteries, even if it is 90%, can be cleared, there may be some truth with non zero weight in his statement. But there is high risk of having heart attack if you accept his truth as against the counsel of a cardiologist who has recommended angioplasty. You may still die of heart attack even after angioplasty but the chances are less. The reason is that the weight of Baba’s truth is much less than that of the Cardiologist’s truth. So, it is the weight which is important when it matters.

In rest of the cases, you are free to accept any truth depending on your choice.