An Expansive View of Time and Space
Those who know (the true measure of) day and night, know the day of Brahma, which ends in a thousand yugas, and the night which (also) ends in a thousand yugas. We have a time scale in India which is extraordinary, with extraordinary vision of the infinity of time, as also the infinity of space. We were never narrow and small in thinking, that the world began in 4000 BC. Our minds went beyond millions and millions of years and, in modern cos- mology, we accept the same idea. Time is relative; we are on a tiny planet, earth, and we measure time watching the rotation of the earth on its own axis and the revolution around the sun. So, we have a day, night, a year, but we don't think that it is the same thing every- where. What you call a day and night here, might be just a second on another plane. So, we call this terrestrial time. Then we move on to celes tial time. The earth goes around the sun in one year, but the sun itself is going around the galactic system. That takes 200 million years. This kind of perspective was developed by Indian sages; for Brahma's time is different from your and my time. Our time unit is very ordinary, just one year, and our lifetime is maximum 100 years. Brahma also has 100 years, but his 100 years are different from ours. Consider his one day: the day is divided into two halves, a day and a night. In Brahma's day, the universe begins to evolve. And for the whole day, the evolution proceeds and when Brahma's evening comes, evolution returns to its original source. The whole is called pralaya, 'the end of cosmic manifestation'. So, Brahma's one day is called a kalpa. The night is another kalpa. About 432 crore human years will constitute just a single kalpa of Brahma. That is the expansive view of time. A shloka says there is a night when the whole universe returns to the state of nonmanifestation. The whole cosmos exists in two states: 1) the undifferentiated or unmanifested state, and 2) the differentiated state or manifested state. Today's astrophysics tells you that in that primordial background material, highly dense matter occupying very little space, the whole universe was contained. Then it exploded and with that explosion began the evolution of the universe, going on still. That power of explosion is still acting upon some of the systems in the outer universe and you can study them by studying the various radio waves that come from them. So, everywhere, you will find radio astronomy developing. You cannot see them with telescopes but radio wavesensing devices can go farther than the telescope. That is how today's astronomy is developing the concept of time. What is the history of the universe? Not like your history, or my history; these are very ordinary. It is just like a man's 100 years life as against that of a small mosquito which lives for a day or two and dies. The mosquito's life is so ordinary. Human life is a little extraordinary but this also is ordinary when you deal with the cosmic time scale.
DISCLAIMER:
The views expressed in the Article above are SWAMI RANGANATHANANDA views and kashmiribhatta.in is not in any way responsible for the opinions expressed in the above article. The article belongs to its respective owner or owners and this site does not claim any right over it.
Courtesy: SWAMI RANGANATHANANDA and Speaking Tree,Times of India
An Expansive View of Time and Space
Those who know (the true measure of) day and night, know the day of Brahma, which ends in a thousand yugas, and the night which (also) ends in a thousand yugas. We have a time scale in India which is extraordinary, with extraordinary vision of the infinity of time, as also the infinity of space. We were never narrow and small in thinking, that the world began in 4000 BC. Our minds went beyond millions and millions of years and, in modern cos- mology, we accept the same idea. Time is relative; we are on a tiny planet, earth, and we measure time watching the rotation of the earth on its own axis and the revolution around the sun. So, we have a day, night, a year, but we don't think that it is the same thing every- where. What you call a day and night here, might be just a second on another plane. So, we call this terrestrial time. Then we move on to celes tial time. The earth goes around the sun in one year, but the sun itself is going around the galactic system. That takes 200 million years. This kind of perspective was developed by Indian sages; for Brahma's time is different from your and my time. Our time unit is very ordinary, just one year, and our lifetime is maximum 100 years. Brahma also has 100 years, but his 100 years are different from ours. Consider his one day: the day is divided into two halves, a day and a night. In Brahma's day, the universe begins to evolve. And for the whole day, the evolution proceeds and when Brahma's evening comes, evolution returns to its original source. The whole is called pralaya, 'the end of cosmic manifestation'. So, Brahma's one day is called a kalpa. The night is another kalpa. About 432 crore human years will constitute just a single kalpa of Brahma. That is the expansive view of time. A shloka says there is a night when the whole universe returns to the state of nonmanifestation. The whole cosmos exists in two states: 1) the undifferentiated or unmanifested state, and 2) the differentiated state or manifested state. Today's astrophysics tells you that in that primordial background material, highly dense matter occupying very little space, the whole universe was contained. Then it exploded and with that explosion began the evolution of the universe, going on still. That power of explosion is still acting upon some of the systems in the outer universe and you can study them by studying the various radio waves that come from them. So, everywhere, you will find radio astronomy developing. You cannot see them with telescopes but radio wavesensing devices can go farther than the telescope. That is how today's astronomy is developing the concept of time. What is the history of the universe? Not like your history, or my history; these are very ordinary. It is just like a man's 100 years life as against that of a small mosquito which lives for a day or two and dies. The mosquito's life is so ordinary. Human life is a little extraordinary but this also is ordinary when you deal with the cosmic time scale.
DISCLAIMER:
The views expressed in the Article above are SWAMI RANGANATHANANDA views and kashmiribhatta.in is not in any way responsible for the opinions expressed in the above article. The article belongs to its respective owner or owners and this site does not claim any right over it.
Courtesy: SWAMI RANGANATHANANDA and Speaking Tree,Times of India