PHYSICS & METAPHYSICS
If one starts inquiring about the origin of the Universe through Modern Physics, one is likely to land up in Vedanta. Atleast the inquirer gets fully convinced that both Modern Physics and Vedanta search for the primal cause of the sight and sound around us. Go deep into it and you reach at a point where Modern Physics perhaps meets a blind-alley whereas the road is long and unwinding for the other. End of veda,i.e., knowledge. Nothing left to learn anymore.
The Vedas (BC 1000-500) are older than Greek philosophy but remained unknown, lest for the efforts taken by the Mughal emperors.The Upanishads were getting translated into Persian thanks to the effort first taken by Akbar the Great. By the middle of 17th century, Dara (Shajahan’s son and Aurangazeb’s elder bother) commissioned scholars and 50 Upanishads got translated from Sanskrit to Persian. Later, the manuscripts were handed over to a French Scholar, Anquetil Du Perron, who was doing research in India on comparative eastern religion. He translated these volumes into Latin by 1775. From there it found its way to German,translated first by Rover and then prominently by Max Muller (1879-1884). The various English versions were based on third-time distanced German mainly.
In Greek, “physis” means the true structure of (of matter). The Greek philosophers, especially of the Militian stream believed that matter had life. Everything, in motion or stationary in state, has got God’s radiance by default. The ancient Greek philosophers had had the swing of things; they didn’t find any difference between Man and Nature.
“Just as Man breathes, the Universe also breathes ; it has got life.” Anaximander (BC 624- 547)
“The substratum of everything is Air.” Anaximenes (BC 585 – 525)
“Everything flows.” Heraclitus (BC 530- 470)
The Greek thinkers of the Militian stream believed that the Universe, dynamic in nature, came into being on its own. The ideas put forward by these Greek thinkers were relegated into background when Aristotle ((BC 384 – 323) arrived. He believed that Man and Nature were separate entities. Perhaps Aristotle had the longest ever influence, 2000 years long, on Western Philosophy and Science. Even the religious views of Christianity were negatively affected. The fundamental error was that of overlooking the symbiotic relationship between Nature and Man. Everything was put into slots. The Western philosophy was getting oriented towards Duality. Matter was separated from movement. However, the motion of Sun and planets didn’t pose a problem. It was God’s handiwork, after all !
The Lord exerts an initial force on them to start the game!
The Renaissance period, though it had a re-reading of all philosophies, followed the Eleatic path, in effect. The Classical Physics was born. Western mainstream philosophies had its origin and growth directly linked to Classical Physics.
With Rene Descartes (1596 – 1650), the divide between Matter & Energy (chaitanya) , Man & Nature becomes complete. The Cartesian Division, that is. Isaac Newton (1642 – 1727) who came next reinforced and fortified the straight-jacketed view about the Universe. He wrote in his famous work Principia,
…..the Universe containing planets etc. is like a huge clock, which has been winded by God…..Things ranging from miniscule atom to massive star were static and remained stationary until God gave them a decisive push….This led to the origin of life….His role ended with this and God made a graceful exit…..Then on , everything followed certain rules (strictly) and the Universe came into being………where there is no space for uncertainty…..Everything can be explained through cause & effect…..
Newton’s Cartesian thinking had its influence on the Western culture. In fact, the guiding force of Industrial Revolution was the philosophy based on Cartesian Thinking. Man was placed at the center of the Universe and Nature was for harnessing ! Wealth generation was supposed to be the most important activity in human life. The Steam-engine was invented and steam – ships were built. Several inventions later, the purpose of human existence was converged into a single point. Wealth creation.
The standards were defined accordingly. The area of land or the quantity of gold one possessed armed one with power and respectability. All creatures including men and women were reduced to machines. (Scientists like Richard Dawkins were partially responsible for this because they were the ones who applied Cartesian thinking to Life-sciences). Human values got weakened. Man was destined to create wealth without any space for creativity and individuality.
The people who subscribed to this world-view were quite aggressive. They didn’t spare the countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America who had a rich heritage and culture of their own. The colonization yoke was thrust upon them resulting in alienation. They were forced to adopt the Western ways .The British rule of 200 years weaned away Indians from their 5000 year old ‘philosophy of answers’. Buddhist and Tao philosophies of the Orient also had to take the beating. These philosophies never pictured God as a powerful and separate arbitrator whereas the Occidental ones did exactly that ! Isaac Newton himself had stated that his laws of motion belonged to God !
This view was quite contrary to the Systems Thinking of the East which didn’t differentiate Man & Nature. The Universe itself was a singular being. The new-found Western Thought divided Humanity into nations, races, class, political groups etc. The root-cause of all troubles of today– social, economic, cultural and environmental – is just this compartmentalization and nothing else.
If one starts inquiring about the origin of the Universe through Modern Physics, one is likely to land up in Vedanta. Atleast the inquirer gets fully convinced that both Modern Physics and Vedanta search for the primal cause of the sight and sound around us. Go deep into it and you reach at a point where Modern Physics perhaps meets a blind-alley whereas the road is long and unwinding for the other. End of veda,i.e., knowledge. Nothing left to learn anymore.
The Vedas (BC 1000-500) are older than Greek philosophy but remained unknown, lest for the efforts taken by the Mughal emperors.The Upanishads were getting translated into Persian thanks to the effort first taken by Akbar the Great. By the middle of 17th century, Dara (Shajahan’s son and Aurangazeb’s elder bother) commissioned scholars and 50 Upanishads got translated from Sanskrit to Persian. Later, the manuscripts were handed over to a French Scholar, Anquetil Du Perron, who was doing research in India on comparative eastern religion. He translated these volumes into Latin by 1775. From there it found its way to German,translated first by Rover and then prominently by Max Muller (1879-1884). The various English versions were based on third-time distanced German mainly.
 |
| Inverted Tree -Arun Kumar H.G.- Digital painting - 61 x 152 cm |
In Greek, “physis” means the true structure of (of matter). The Greek philosophers, especially of the Militian stream believed that matter had life. Everything, in motion or stationary in state, has got God’s radiance by default. The ancient Greek philosophers had had the swing of things; they didn’t find any difference between Man and Nature.
“Just as Man breathes, the Universe also breathes ; it has got life.” Anaximander (BC 624- 547)
“The substratum of everything is Air.” Anaximenes (BC 585 – 525)
“Everything flows.” Heraclitus (BC 530- 470)
 |
| The Silence of the Other End - Arun Kumar H.G. |
The Greek thinkers of the Militian stream believed that the Universe, dynamic in nature, came into being on its own. The ideas put forward by these Greek thinkers were relegated into background when Aristotle ((BC 384 – 323) arrived. He believed that Man and Nature were separate entities. Perhaps Aristotle had the longest ever influence, 2000 years long, on Western Philosophy and Science. Even the religious views of Christianity were negatively affected. The fundamental error was that of overlooking the symbiotic relationship between Nature and Man. Everything was put into slots. The Western philosophy was getting oriented towards Duality. Matter was separated from movement. However, the motion of Sun and planets didn’t pose a problem. It was God’s handiwork, after all !
The Lord exerts an initial force on them to start the game!
 |
| Fortune Teller -Arun Kumar H.G.- 226 x 122 x 71cm |
The Renaissance period, though it had a re-reading of all philosophies, followed the Eleatic path, in effect. The Classical Physics was born. Western mainstream philosophies had its origin and growth directly linked to Classical Physics.
With Rene Descartes (1596 – 1650), the divide between Matter & Energy (chaitanya) , Man & Nature becomes complete. The Cartesian Division, that is. Isaac Newton (1642 – 1727) who came next reinforced and fortified the straight-jacketed view about the Universe. He wrote in his famous work Principia,
…..the Universe containing planets etc. is like a huge clock, which has been winded by God…..Things ranging from miniscule atom to massive star were static and remained stationary until God gave them a decisive push….This led to the origin of life….His role ended with this and God made a graceful exit…..Then on , everything followed certain rules (strictly) and the Universe came into being………where there is no space for uncertainty…..Everything can be explained through cause & effect…..
Newton’s Cartesian thinking had its influence on the Western culture. In fact, the guiding force of Industrial Revolution was the philosophy based on Cartesian Thinking. Man was placed at the center of the Universe and Nature was for harnessing ! Wealth generation was supposed to be the most important activity in human life. The Steam-engine was invented and steam – ships were built. Several inventions later, the purpose of human existence was converged into a single point. Wealth creation.
The standards were defined accordingly. The area of land or the quantity of gold one possessed armed one with power and respectability. All creatures including men and women were reduced to machines. (Scientists like Richard Dawkins were partially responsible for this because they were the ones who applied Cartesian thinking to Life-sciences). Human values got weakened. Man was destined to create wealth without any space for creativity and individuality.
The people who subscribed to this world-view were quite aggressive. They didn’t spare the countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America who had a rich heritage and culture of their own. The colonization yoke was thrust upon them resulting in alienation. They were forced to adopt the Western ways .The British rule of 200 years weaned away Indians from their 5000 year old ‘philosophy of answers’. Buddhist and Tao philosophies of the Orient also had to take the beating. These philosophies never pictured God as a powerful and separate arbitrator whereas the Occidental ones did exactly that ! Isaac Newton himself had stated that his laws of motion belonged to God !
 |
| Stone Soup Maker - Arun Kumar H.G.- 140 x 53 x 56 cm |
This view was quite contrary to the Systems Thinking of the East which didn’t differentiate Man & Nature. The Universe itself was a singular being. The new-found Western Thought divided Humanity into nations, races, class, political groups etc. The root-cause of all troubles of today– social, economic, cultural and environmental – is just this compartmentalization and nothing else.