Musings of a pico-Jignasu - II

                                              From the Physicists' Kitchen
Stephen Hawking, in his book, A brief History of Time, says that as we approach the point of Big Bang we reach a point of mathematical singularity. Therefore, all physical laws breakdown at t=0, i.e. the beginning of universe and before. Space and Time as defined by physics are no more valid. He conveniently puts the ball in the philosopher's court before t=0 and proceeds ahead with his narration.  But I have clung on to this point  ever since then. What existed before t = 0? This also takes me to the question who created the creator? Allow me now to mention how Lord Shiva is worshiped in India. The most worshiped form of Lord Shiva is the Lingaakaara, an ellipsoid form symbolizing the One who has neither a beginning nor an end!

Since I ended with Lord Shiva in the previous para, let me begin with Him in this. Lord Shiva, the Nataraja, is supposed to perform a form of dance called the Shiva Thandava. Fritjof Capra, in his book, The Tao of Physics, draws a parallel between this Cosmic Dance with the dances of the sub-atomic particles. I don't remember if I read it in the same book or else where but this universe can be compared to the cosmic dance(Thandava) of Lord Shiva. Just as the dancer permeates the dance, God permeates the entire Universe.

The equation of E = mc^2 ,given by Einstein, essentially says that mass and energy are inter-convertible. So, if you were to keep an 100Watt incandescent light switched continuously for a year, you would spend energy worth a few micro(10^-6) grams. Using the same equation, if you were to calculate the rate at which our beloved Sun sheds its energy, it is around 8 billion(10^8) kg/s. And yet it would survive for another few billion years. But this Sun is a mid-sized star in our galaxy called the Milky Way. And if you ever want to name a galaxy after a friend, feel free to do so. There are enough of them; enough to associate around four per a living person in this world. (Compiled from the vague memories of Fundamentals of Physics by Resnick and Halliday and/or Modern Physics by Kenneth S Krane)

Musings of a pico-Jignasu - I

Firstly the etymology– The Bhagavad Gita(7:16) says that there are four types of devotees – Artha, Arthaarthi, Jignasu and Jnani. The last one  is of course ruled out for me and I consider a major part of myself not belonging to the first two categories. However, I know that I am  not a full-fledged Jignasu and therefore the adjective pico(10^-12)

 I was in the second year of my Under-graduation and was having a basic couse in Real Analysis. We were being introduced the Natural Numbers and the infinity of Natural Numbers (pronounced aleph naught). Now, 2 + 2 is 4, x + x is 2x but + is not  2 but . Promptly, my professor told us what the scriptures say “Poornamadah Poornamidam Poornaath Poornam Udachyathe Poornasya Poornamaadaaya Poornameva Vasishyathe”

I had the good fortune to learn some RigVedic chants in my higher secondary school and college. However, I must  humbly admit that I can only recite them very imperfectly. I only have a millionth of a millionth of rudimentary knowledge of the Vedas. I beg the pardon of the wise for my audacity in this attempt. I wish to mention two things that made a very profound impression on me from the Brahmanandavalli :

1.       It goes  "Akaashadh Vayuhu, Vayoragnihi, Agnairaapaha, Aabyah Pruthvi ..."  It means Air emerged(was born) from the Ether; Fire from Air; Water from Fire; Land from Water...  But hold a second! Water was born out of fire! They are opposites right? You use water to put off fire. And then came the revelation to me. An examination of fundamental chemistry told me that when Hydrogen burns in oxygen water is what comes out!

2.       In the same Brahmandavalli there is a description of Ananda. A unit of  human happiness is defined using a young and healthy happy man with lot of other parameters and then the happiness is measured across various beings and the description goes upto defining one unit of happiness of the Brahman. Now I know of Metre as an unit of distance, gram as an unit of weight etc... But to define a unit for happiness (and with a very high degree of precision, in my opinion) is something awe inspiring for me.