Big bang theory is the most widely accepted scientific theory about how our universe emerged 13.7 billion years ago. Though there is not much of empirical evidence about this theory yet, except for mathematical derivations, it is most likely to be true. This theory was propounded in the late 1940s and refined in the past few decades.
But what is amazing is that there are seemingly similar descriptions of the origins of the universe, in the more than 5000-year-old Vedas. – the most ancient scriptures of India. In this talk, I will briefly touch upon one such description.
Before we get there, let me first give a brief overview of the Big Bang theory as proposed by our modern scientific community.
Apparently, more than 13.7 billion years ago, the universe that we can see today did not exist. Scientists say that at that time neither space, nor time existed. What existed at that time? According to the Big bang theory, all that existed at that moment was just an infinitely dense, infinitely hot, dimensionless point. There was nothing else.
But this point was not material in nature, since none of the things that we recognize as matter today, existed at that time. Nor the laws like gravitation, electromagnetism etc. that govern the material world today.
For some unknown reason, this singular point started expanding at an infinitely great speed. It did not explode, the way the word ‘Big bang’ suggests, but merely expanded in all directions.
As it expanded, it started cooling down. But it was still Billions of degrees hot. As it cooled, charged particles like electron, proton etc. got produced. Later, these charged particles combined together with electrically neutral neutrons to form the first ever atoms.
Newer atoms were formed as time passed by, giving rise to simple elements. Gradually, these atoms further combined and produced complex compounds. One by one, laws like gravitation, electromagnetism, started enforcing themselves. The process of expansion and cooling down went on.
Over a period of billions of years, newly formed compounds clustered together as galaxies, stars and planets, giving rise to the universe that we know of today. But the expansion was still going on at a rapid pace. So, this rapid expansion which went on, and still going on, at greater than the speed of light, made some parts of this universe “unknowable” since no light could ever reach them. That part of the universe will ever remain unknown to us.
Gradually, there was a period of further cooling down. There was emergence life on some parts of this universe, like our own earth. From microbial forms, to vegetation, to animals, and to finally humans, life continued to evolve on some of these newly formed parts of the universe. As of now, we are aware of life only on our earth, but it is not unlikely that life may also exist in many other parts of this universe where conditions are favorable. It may be an altogether different form of life though.
Some scientists opine that this Big bang is not a one-time phenomenon. There could be cycles of expansion and contraction resulting in alternately spewing of the universe and its subsequent reabsorption after an interval.
This in nutshell is the Big bang theory.
Now let us look at the description in the over 5000-year-old Vedas that we talked about in the beginning. Do those descriptions match this?
In this talk, I have taken up one of the descriptions given in Rig Veda. More specifically, in Rigveda Samhita, Mandala 10, Sukta 129.
Samhita is a collection of Mantras. Mandala is a specific grouping of these Mantras into chapters, either based on the sage or his family who initially recorded these mantras, or the grouping could be based on the Divine beings those Mantras are addressed to. But they are not indicators of chronology, as often wrongly believed. A Sukta is a group of related Mantras within a Mandala, that correspond to some topic or usage. We are talking about 129th group that has 7 Mantras.
This group of Mantras is called Nasadiya Sukta. This Sukta hints at the way our universe originated and what existed before the universe came into existence. This Sukta is further expanded in various Upanishads, elaborating the entire ‘creation’ process.
Ancient Indians always believed that creation, if at all it can be called so, is not a onetime affair. But it is a phase in a beginning-less/endless cycle of successive creation-reabsorption processes with in-between interludes. This Sukta talks about one such creation phase which followed a previous reabsorption phase or pralaya.
The Sukta starts off with the description of what existed before this universe emerged. It says
“There was neither Asat nor Sat at that time – na asat aaseet, na sat
What are these Asat and Sat? These words have different meanings in different context. But in this context, Asat means ‘something that cannot be known by our senses’. And Sat means ‘that which is knowable through our senses’. So, existence has two components – some things that can never be known and some things that can be known.
Did the worlds that we see today, like the stars, planets exist at that time? The Sukta says
“na rajah aseeet, na vyOmah, na parah”
That means there were neither the worlds that we see today. Nor the outer space; not even the space beyond!
At this point it is interesting to note that the word ‘space’ in common parlance is taken as something where nothing exists. We don’t consider space as some object. But not so, the Vedic Indians. They considered even the space as one of the 5 basic elements that formed our world. They called it Akasha. The word ‘Space’ does not represent emptiness but some element called space. It sounds strange!
But even the promoters of Big bang theory say that space did not exist before the big bang. It only got ‘created’ as the initial singularity expanded outwards. What is further interesting is that Vedas say that before ‘creation’ neither space nor time existed! That is why they say that the Atma, that alone existed in the very beginning, is ‘beyond space and time’.
We are used to the idea that everything has an ‘inside’ and an ‘outside’, everything is covered by something, and so on. But what enveloped this universe which is in the process of creation? The Sukta says
“kim aavareevah ? kim gahanam gabheeram ambhah aseet ?”
“What could have enveloped this emerging universe? Could there be some unfathomable water?”
That is ruled out since at that time water did not exist and was yet to be ‘created’.
Definitely, there were no life forms at that time. So, where is the question about their birth or death or even their being immortal! None of that existed. There was no day, nor night, since the Sun is yet to arrive on the scene. That is what the Sukta says.
“na mrtyu aaseet na amrtam. na raatryah, na ahnah aaseet”
Does it mean that it was totally void? Did this universe emerge from nothing?
No. That is not the case. The Sukta says that there was this ‘one and only thing’. That thing was capable of bringing life into lifeless.
“tat Ekam swadhayaa avaatam aaneet”
There was absolutely nothing else other than that.
“tasmaat anyat na parah kimcana aasa”
The Sukta goes on to describe the situation at that time. It says
“There was darkness all around. But it was not any ordinary darkness. Ordinary darkness can be dispelled by shedding light. But this darkness could not be shed even by light. It was such a darkness! The entire universe that we see now was in a completely fluid state.”
“agrE tamasaa gooLham, aprakEtam, aaseet. idam sarvam salilam aah.”
What happened then?
As we saw earlier, there was this “one and only thing” at that time. Did it not do anything? It was quite capable!
It did. That is how this universe came into existence.
“First there was a desire in the mind of that ‘one and only thing’ to expand as the world. That desire acted as a seed for the emergence of this universe”.
“agrE kaamah sam adhi avartatah manasah rEtah yat aaseet tat”.
Once the “one and only thing” decided to emerge as the universe,
“it started to expand at great speeds in all directions – up, down, left, right, and forward like rays of light”
“Eshaam rashmih tirasceenah, adhah swit, upari swit, vitatah aaseet”
Gradually,
“the worlds as well as the life forms in those worlds, also came into existence.”
“rEtOdhaa aasan. Mahimaanah aasan.”
But this creation was not instantaneous. It took time and happened in stages. One of the Upanishads explains this sequence as follows.
“from that ‘one and only thing’ (which the Upanishads call as Atma) emerged space. From space emerged the gases. From this gaseous stuff emerged fire. Fire gave rise to water. From water, arose solid things like earth. On this earth grew vegetation. This vegetation was gradually followed by beings that fed on food produced by this vegetation.”
Atmana aakaasah sambhootah; aakaasaat vaayuh; vaayur agnih; agnE aapah; adbhyah pritvee; prtivyaa auShadhayah; auShadheebhyO annah; annat purushah”.
– Taitariya Upanishad 2.1
That was how the emergence of this universe along with all living and non-living beings took place.
But there is a fundamental question that begs for an answer.
“how is one sure that this is how it all took place? Who can explain it since there was none at that time? Even the divine beings cannot tell us since they came after the worlds came into existence!”
“kah addha vEda? kah iha pravOcat? dEvah asya visarjanEna arvaak!”
But there was definitely one who existed at that time.
“He was the one who started all this. Probably he knows everything. If he too does not know, then?!!” 😉
“yathah iyam visrShtih aababhoova sah vEdaa. yadi vaa na vEda?!!”😉
Probably, the last words namely, “if he too does not know, then?!! (yadi vaa na Veda?!!)” was meant as a riddle, like the Zen koans, to make one ponder deeply. Or maybe, it meant – “there is none who knows, other than that ‘one and only thing’ who did all this”
That was the big bang theory of the ancient Indian Vedas described as a set of 7 mantras, in the 10th Mandala of Rigveda.
Now let us see the complete Sukta as a whole, along with its traditional recitation.
nāsad āsīn no sad āsīt tadānīṁ nāsīd rajo no vyomā paro yat.
kim āvarīvaḥ kuha kasya śarmann ambhaḥ kim āsīd gahanaṁ gabhīram.
na mṛtyur āsīd amṛtaṁ na tarhi na rātryā ahna āsīt praketaḥ.
ānīd avātaṁ svadhayā tad ekaṁ tasmād dhānyan na paraḥ kiṁ canāsa.
tama āsīt tamasā gūl ̥ham agre 'praketaṁ salilaṁ sarvam ā idam.
tucchyenābhv apihitaṁ yad āsīt tapasas tan mahinājāyataikam.
kāmas tad agre sam avartatādhi manaso retaḥ prathamaṁ yad āsīt .
sato bandhum asati nir avindan hṛdi pratīṣyā kavayo manīṣā.
tiraścīno vitato raśmir eṣām adhaḥ svid āsīd upari svid āsīt.
retodhā āsan mahimāna āsan svadhā avastāt prayatiḥ parastāt.
ko addhā veda ka iha pra vocat kuta ājātā kuta iyaṁ visṛṣṭiḥ.
arvāg devā asya visarjanenāthā ko veda yata ābab.
iyaṁ visṛṣṭir yata ābabhūva yadi vā dadhe yadi vā na.
yo asyādhyakṣaḥ parame vyoman so aṅga veda yadi vā na veda.
Credits:
1. “Saayana Bhashya of Rigveda”, By Sayanacarya, 16th century.
2. “Samhita - Hymn on Creation” - Ved Vrind , Chant provided to YouTube by The Orchard Enterprises https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNqdfITpTKk
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