VCA 6: Modern Astrophysics and the Vedic Perspective

Thus far we have tried to show how Vedic cosmology relates to the overall picture of the universe that modern man has built up on the basis of ordinary sense perception. We have mainly dealt with fairly elementary features of this picture that have been part of human knowledge for centuries. In recent years, however, a highly sophisticated and complex science of astrophysics has grown up, which deals with many celestial phenomena in great technical detail. Many people will be inclined to argue that Vedic cosmology is no match for this new science, in which astronomy has joined forces with physics. They will say that it describes nature on a level of precision and detail that was never approached in ancient times, and it has established many new concepts that were undreamt-of by earlier thinkers. These dynamic developments stand in sharp contrast to the static Vedic world view and show that its many unverifiable ideas have simply been a hindrance to progress.

One answer to this challenge is that to appreciate Vedic cosmology, one must understand its underlying purpose and the basic tenets on which it is based. These are quite different from the motives and assumptions lying behind modern science, and thus it is not surprising that they should lead to radically different scientific and cultural developments. We can evaluate the relative merit of the Vedic and modern approaches to nature only if we take these fundamental goals and assumptions into account.

The picture of Vedic cosmology that emerges from this study is based on the fundamental principle that reality can be understood only partially and imperfectly through the endeavors of our limited mundane minds and senses. Thus Vedic descriptions of the universe have stressed the existence of higher realms of being, both material and spiritual. Since these realms could not be understood in detail by persons on the human level of consciousness, they were described only in general, qualitative terms. For those who wished to know of these realms more directly, processes of yoga were given, which enable a person to gradually elevate his consciousness to higher levels. Thus human endeavor was channeled in the direction of purification of the self and the development of our inner potential, rather than toward the exploitation of the material environment using our gross sensory equipment.

Observable natural phenomena, such as the motions of the planets, were studied and mathematically analyzed in the ancient Vedic culture. However, the object of the analysis was not to give a final, comprehensive description of nature. Rather, its purpose was to provide simple and practical methods of dealing with these phenomena in day-to-day life. The motions of the planets were studied for the purpose of making astrological forecasts and arranging for the proper timing of religious festivals and ceremonies. Thus observational and mathematical astronomy was used to fulfill needs related to higher aspects of reality that cannot be directly observed and measured. Since there was no question of creating a final, mathematically perfect theory of astronomy, no efforts were made toward this end, and mathematical models were kept as simple as possible, given the practical needs for which they were intended.

According to the Vedic world view, the higher material and spiritual realms are by no means devoid of life. Rather, they are populated by a hierarchy of superhuman beings, and their original source is understood to be a supreme sentient being. Given this perspective, it is natural to think that knowledge about the most important aspects of reality can be obtained only by communicating with higher beings, and ultimately by coming in direct contact with the Supreme Lord. Thus the Vedic culture is dominated by the idea of receiving knowledge from a chain of authorities who are passing it down from a higher source. This applies not only to spiritual knowledge, but also to material arts, including mathematical astronomy.

In contrast, modern science is based on the idea that nature can be fully understood using our present minds and senses. Its fundamental premise is that all aspects of reality can be mathematically described, and that all phenomena can be observed either directly or through their effects on other phenomena. This leads naturally to the idea that it is possible to create a final, complete mathematical theory of nature. If we examine the history of modern physics and astronomy, we see that these fields of study have been dominated by the drive to pry loose all the secrets of nature quickly and to create such an ultimate theory.

We can therefore argue that many of the differences between Vedic and modern cosmology are due to this fundamental difference in approach. Vedic cosmology does not exhibit the same elaborate mathematical development as modern cosmology because the Vedic world view provided no motive for undertaking such a development. On the other hand, modern cosmology is strictly limited to a three- or four-dimensional continuum because modern man lacks the sensory faculties for observing higher-dimensional aspects of the universe, and because modern science places great emphasis on quickly arriving at a complete world model based on available observations.

Modern cosmology may seem superior to its Vedic counterpart if we stick to the assumption that reality is limited to what ordinary human beings can perceive, using either their unaided senses or mechanical instruments. However, if the Vedic idea of higher realms of existence is even approximately correct, then it becomes clear that the modern scientific approach has caused us to focus our attention uselessly on relatively unimportant aspects of the universe. From this point of view, the technical sophistication of modern astrophysics appears more as an impediment to the attainment of knowledge than as an example of great scientific progress.

To a person acquainted with modern scientific ideas, the obvious reply to this argument is that the complex technical methods of modern astrophysics have revealed many features of nature that contradict the Vedic literature, and thus the Vedic world view is no longer relevant. However, it is possible that a theoretical description of nature could be developed that equals or surpasses modern astronomical science in technical sophistication but is also consistent with Vedic cosmology. Such a theory might take the form of a radically new conceptual framework that incorporates our current theoretical system as an approximation having a limited range of applicability.

The point can be made that modern cosmology not only contradicts the Vedic literature but also has its own internal contradictions. These contradictions are quite severe, and we briefly discuss some of them in Chapter 7. They indicate that some radical change will have to be made in modern theories to bring them into line with astronomical observations. It is perhaps reasonable to suggest that such a revision should also take into account the empirical evidence for higher-dimensional aspects of reality discussed in Chapter 5. Such a new theoretical system might well agree more closely with Vedic cosmology than the present system does.

Radical extensions of our theoretical perspective have taken place repeatedly in the history of science. A striking example of this is provided by the revolution in the science of physics that occurred in the twenties and thirties of this century. At the end of the nineteenth century, physicists were almost universally convinced that classical physics provided a final and complete theory of nature. However, a few years later, classical physics was replaced by a new theory, called quantum mechanics, which is based on fundamentally different principles.

The most interesting feature of this development is that classical physics turns out to be compatible with quantum mechanics in the domain of observation in which it was originally applied. The differences between the two theories become significant only in the new atomic domain opened up by the quantum theory. Likewise, our proposed new cosmology would agree with existing theories in its predictions of gross sensory observations, but it would open an entirely new world of higher-dimensional travel.