Concepts of Space, Time, and Consciousness in Ancient India
arXiv:physics/9903010v2 [physics.hist-ph] 29 Mar 1999
Concepts of Space, Time, and Consciousness
in Ancient India
Subhash Kak
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering
Louisiana State University
Baton Rouge, LA 70803-5901
February 2, 2008
Abstract
This paper describes Indian ideas of the early-Pur¯an. a/Mah¯abh¯arata
times (centuries BC) on the nature of space, time and consciousness
that would be of interest to the physicist. In order to simplify references,
we quote mainly from Yoga-V¯asis.
t.ha (YV), which is representative
of that period of Indian thought. YV professes to be a book of
instruction on the nature of consciousness but it has many fascinating
passages on time, space, matter and cognition. This paper presents a
random selection that has parallels with recent speculations in physics.
It also presents a brief account of the context in which ideas of YV
developed.
1 Introduction
Ancient Indian ideas of physics, available to us through a variety of sources,
are generally not known in the physics world. Indian astronomer/physicists,
starting with a position that sought to unify space, time, matter, and consciousness,
argued for relativity of space and time, cyclic and recursively
defined universes, and a non-anthropocentric view. The two most astonishing
numerical claims from the ancient Indians are: a cyclic system of creation
1
of the universe with a period of 8.64 billion years, although there exist longer
cycles as well; and, speed of light to be 4,404 yojanas per nimes.a, which is
almost exactly 186,000 miles per second (Kak, 1998a)!
A critic would see the numbers as no more than idle coincidences. But
within the Indian tradition it is believed that reality, as a kind of a universal
state function, transcends the separate categories of space, time, matter, and
observation. In this function, called Brahman in the literature, inhere all
categories including knowledge. The conditioned mind can, by “tuning” in
to Brahman, obtain knowledge, although it can only be expressed in terms
of the associations already experienced by the mind. Within the Indian tradition,
scientific knowledge describes as much aspects of outer reality as the
topography of the mindscape. Furthermore, there are connections between
the outer and the inner: we can comprehend reality only because we are
already equipped to do so! My own papers listed in the bibliography can
serve as an introduction to these ideas and point to further references for the
reader to examine.
Two philosophical systems at the basis of Indian physics—and metaphysics—
are S¯am. khya and Vai´ses.
ika. S¯am. khya, which is an ancient system that goes
back to the 3rd millennium BC, posits 25 basic categories together with 3
constituent qualities, which evolve in different ways to create the universe
at the microcosmic as well as the macrocosmic levels. It also presupposes a
“potential” (tanm¯atra) to be more basic than the material entity. Vai´ses.
ika
is a later system which is an atomic theory with the non-atomic ground of
ether, space, and time upon which rest four different classes of indestructible
atoms which combine in a variety of ways to constitute all matter; it also
considers mind to be atomic (Kak, 1999). These systems presuppose genesis
and evolution both at the cosmic and psychological levels. They also accept
cyclic and multiple universes, and centrality of observers.
Unfortunately, historians of science are generally oblivious of Indian physics,
astronomy or cosmology. Amongst popular books, Paul Halpern’s The Cyclical
Serpent (1995) is unusual in that it places modern speculations regarding
an oscillating universe within the context of the cyclic cosmology of the
Pur¯an. as, but even this book doesn’t define a context for the Indian ideas.
In this paper we present, in a capsule form, the basic Indian ideas on
space, time, and observation from the age of the epics and the early Pur¯an. as.
The ideas of these period seem to belong to last centuries BC and they are
described in the Mah¯abh¯arata, Pur¯an. as, and the early Siddh¯antas. To keep
2
our sources to a minimum, we mainly use Yoga-V¯asis.
t.ha (YV), an ancient Indian
text, over 29,000 verses long, traditionally attributed to V¯alm¯ıki, author
of the epic R¯am¯ayan. a, which is over two thousand years old.
2 Vedic and Pur¯an.
ic Cosmology
We first look at Vedic cosmology. The Vedas are texts that represent the
ancient knowledge tradition of India. While their compilations go back to
at least the third millennium, some of their contents might be even older.
The Vedic tradition is a part of the Indian culture tradition that has been
traced back, archaeologically, to about 8000 BC (Feuerstein et al, 1995). The
antiquity of the Vedic texts is, in part, confirmed by their celebration of the
Sarasvati river as the greatest river of their age, and modern hydrological
studies have established that this river dried up around 2000 BC. The kinglists
in the Pur¯an. as take us to several millennia before the period of the
drying up of the Sarasvati. There is also a rock art tradition in India that
has been traced to about 40000 BC (Wakankar, 1992).
There are several statements in the Vedic texts about the universe being
infinite, while at the same time the finite distance to the sun is explicitly
mentioned (Kak, 1998a-d). Aditi, the great mother of the gods, is a personification
of the concept of infinity. A famous mantra speaks of how taking
infinity out of infinity leaves it unchanged. This indicates that paradoxical
properties of the notion of infinity were known.
In a reference to mapping the outer world into an altar made of bricks,
the Yajurveda (hymn 17) names numbers in multiples of ten that go upto
ten hundred thousand million. This also suggests a belief in a very large
universe.
The Satapatha Br¯ahman ´
. a, a commentatorial prose text on the Veda,
that most likely goes back to the early centuries of the second millennium
BC, provides an overview of some broad aspects of Vedic cosmology. The
sixth chapter of the book, entitled “Creation of the Universe”, speaks of
the creation of the earth later than that of other stars. Creation is seen to
proceed under the aegis of the Praj¯apati (reference either to a star or to
abstract time) with the emergence of A´sva, R¯asabha, Aja and K¯urma before
the emergence of the earth. Vi´svan¯atha Vidy¯ala ˙nk¯ara suggests that these are
the sun (A´sva), Gemini (R¯asabha), Aja (Capricorn) and K¯urma (Cassiopeia).
3
This identification is supported by etymological considerations. The R. gveda
1.164.2 and Nirukta 4.4.27 define A´sva as the sun. R¯asabha which literally
means the twin asses are defined in Nighant.u 1.15 as A´svinau which later
usage suggests are Castor and Pollux in Gemini. In Western astronomy the
twin asses are to be found in the next constellation of Cancer as Asellus
Borealis and Asellus Australis. Aja (goat) is defined by Nighant.u 1.15 as a
sun and owing to the continuity that we see in the Vedic and later European
names for constellations (as in the case of the Great Bear) it is reasonable to
identify it as the constellation Capricorn (caper goat + cornu horn). K¯urma
is a synonym of Ka´syapa (tortoise) which is like Cassiopeia (from Greek
Kassiopeia), and it is appropriate because it is near the pole.
The Pur¯an. as view the universe to have a diameter of about 500 million
yojanas, but beyond the universe lies the limitless Pradh¯ana, that has within
it countless other universes (Kak, 1998a).
3 The Yoga-V¯asis.
t.ha
The internal evidence of the Yoga-V¯asis.
t.ha (YV) indicates that it was authored
or compiled later than the R¯am¯ayan. a. Chapple (1984) summarizes
the views of various scholars who date it variously as early as the sixth century
AD or as late as the 13th or the 14th century. Dasgupta (1975, 1932)
dated it about the sixth century AD on the basis that one of its verses appears
to be copied from one of K¯alid¯asa’s plays considering K¯alid¯asa to have
lived around the fifth century. The traditional date of K¯alid¯asa is 50 BC and
new arguments (Kak 1990) support this earlier date so that the estimates
regarding the age of YV are further muddled and it is possible that this text
could be 2000 years old.
YV may be viewed as a book of philosophy or as a philosophical novel.
It describes the instruction given by Vasis.
t.ha to R¯ama, the hero of the epic
R¯am¯ayan. a. Its premise may be termed radical idealism and it is couched in a
fashion that has many parallels with the notion of a participatory universe argued
by Wheeler and others. Its most interesting passages from the scientific
point of view relate to the description of the nature of space, time, matter,
and consciousness. It should be emphasized that the YV ideas do not stand
in isolation. Similar ideas are to be found in the earlier Vedic books. At its
deepest level the Vedic conception is to view reality in a monist manner; at
4
the next level one may speak of the dichotomy of mind and matter. Ideas
similar to those found in YV are also encountered in Pur¯an. as and Tantric
literature.
YV is a text that belongs to the mainstream of the ancient Vedic tradition
that professes to deal with knowledge. Astronomical references in the Vedic
texts take us back to the 4th or 5th millennium BC or even earlier (e.g. Kak
1994-6).
Roughly speaking, the Vedic system speaks of an interconnectedness between
the observer and the observed. A similar conception appears to have
informed many ancient peoples including the Greeks.
The Vedic system of knowledge is based on a tripartite approach to the
universe where connections exist in triples in categories of one group and
across groups: sky, atmosphere, earth; object, medium, subject; future,
present, past; and so on. Beyond the triples lies the transcendental “fourth”.
Three kinds of motion are alluded to in the Vedic books: these are the
translational motion, sound, and light which are taken to be “equivalent” to
earth, air, and sky. The fourth motion is assigned to consciousness; and this
is considered to be infinite in speed.
At least one of the founders of quantum theory was directly inspired by
the Vedic system of knowledge. Schr¨odinger (1961) claims that the Vedic
slogan “All in One and One in All” was an idea that led him to the creation
of quantum mechanics (see also Moore, 1989). Even before Schr¨odinger, the
idealist philosophical tradition in Europe had long been moulded by Vedic
ideas. It should also be noted that many parts of the Vedic literature are still
not properly understood although considerable progress has recently taken
place in the study of Vedic science.
It is most interesting that the books in this Indian tradition speak about
the relativity of time and space in a variety of ways. The medieval books call
the Pur¯an. as speak of countless universes, time flowing at different rates for
different observers and so on.
Universes defined recursively are described in the famous episode of Indra
and the ants in Brahmavaivarta Pur¯an. a 4.47.100-160, the Mah¯abh¯arata
12.187, and elsewhere. These flights of imagination are to be traced to more
than a straightforward generalization of the motions of the planets into a
cyclic universe. They must be viewed in the background of an amazingly
sophisticated tradition of cognitive and analytical thought (see e.g. Staal
1988; Rao and Kak 1998).
5
Selected Passages
The page numbers given at the end of each passage are from the Venkatesananda
(1993) translation. YV consists of 6 books where the sixth book
itself has two parts. The numbers in the square brackets refer to the book,
(part), section, verse. The reference to the Sanskrit original is also listed in
the bibliography.
Time
• Time cannot be analyzed; for however much it is divided it survives
indestructible. [1.23]
• There is another aspect of this time, the end of action (kr.
t¯anta), according
to the law of nature (niyati). [1.25.6-7]
• The world is like a potter’s wheel: the wheel looks as if it stands still,
though it revolves at a terrific speed. [1.27]
• Just as space does not have a fixed span, time does not have a fixed
span either. Just as the world and its creation are mere appearances,
a moment and an epoch are also imaginary. [3.20]
• Infinite consciousness held in itself the notion of a unit of time equal to
one-millionth of the twinkling of an eye: and from this evolved the timescale
right upto an epoch consisting of several revolutions of the four
ages, which is the life-span of one cosmic creation. Infinite consciousness
itself is uninvolved in these, for it is devoid of rising and setting
(which are essential to all time-scales), and it devoid of a beginning,
middle and end. [3.61]
Space
• There are three types of space—the psychological space, the physical
space and the infinite space of consciousness. [3.17]
The infinite space of individed consciousness is that which exists in
all, inside and outside... The finite space of divided consciousness is
that which created divisions of time, which pervades all beings... The
6
physical space is that in which the elements exist. The latter two are
not independent of the first. [3.97]
• Other universes/wormholes. I saw within [the] rock [at the edge of the
universe] the creation, sustenance and the dissolution of the universe...
I saw innumerable creations in the very many rocks that I found on
the hill. In some of these creation was just beginning, others were
populated by humans, still others were far ahead in the passage of
their times. [6.2.86]
• I perceived within each molecule of air a whole universe. [6.2.92]
Matter
• In every atom there are worlds within worlds. [3.20]
• I saw reflected in that consciousness the image of countless universes.
I saw countless creations though they did not know of one another’s
existence. Some were coming into being, others were perishing, all of
them had different shielding atmospheres (from five to thirty-six atmospheres).
There were different elements in each, they were inhabited
by different types of beings in different stages of evolution.. [In] some
there was apparent natural order in others there was utter disorder, in
some there was no light and hence no time-sense. [6.2.59]
Experience
• Direct experience alone is the basis for all proofs... That substratum is
the experiencing intelligence which itself becomes the experiencer, the
act of experiencing, and the experience. [2.19-20]
• Everyone has two bodies, the one physical and the other mental. The
physical body is insentient and seeks its own destruction; the mind is
finite but orderly. [4.10]
• I have carefully investigated, I have observed everything from the tips
of my toes to the top of my head, and I have not found anything of
which I could say, ‘This I am.’ Who is ‘I’? I am the all-pervading
7
consciousness which is itself not an object of knowledge or knowing
and is free from self-hood. I am that which is indivisible, which has no
name, which does not undergo change, which is beyond all concepts of
unity and diversity, which is beyond measure. [5.52]
• I remember that once upon a time there was nothing on this earth,
neither trees and plants, nor even mountains. For a period of eleven
thousand years the earth was covered by lava. In those days there was
neither day nor night below the polar region: for in the rest of the earth
neither the sun nor the moon shone. Only one half of the polar region
was illumined.
Then demons ruled the earth. They were deluded, powerful and prosperous,
and the earth was their playground.
Apart from the polar region the rest of the earth was covered with
water. And then for a very long time the whole earth was covered with
forests, except the polar region. Then there arose great mountains, but
without any human inhabitants. For a period of ten thousand years
the earth was covered with the corpses of the demons. [6.1]
Mind
• The same infinite self conceives within itself the duality of oneself and
the other. [3.1]
• Thought is mind, there is no distinction between the two. [3.4]
• The body can neither enjoy nor suffer. It is the mind alone that experiences.
[3.115]
• The mind has no body, no support and no form; yet by this mind is
everything consumed in this world. This is indeed a great mystery. He
who says that he is destroyed by the mind which has no substantiality
at all, says in effect that his head was smashed by the lotus petal...
The hero who is able to destroy a real enemy standing in front of him
is himself destroyed by this mind which is [non-material].
• The intelligence which is other than self-knowledge is what constitutes
the mind. [5.14]
8
Complementarity
• The absolute alone exists now and for ever. When one thinks of it as
a void, it is because of the feeling one has that it is not void; when one
thinks of it as not-void, it is because there is a feeling that it is void.
[3.10]
• All fundamental elements continued to act on one another—as experiencer
and experience—and the entire creation came into being like ripples
on the surface of the ocean. And, they are interwoven and mixed
up so effectively that they cannot be extricated from one another till
the cosmic dissolution. [3.12]
Consciousness
• The entire universe is forever the same as the consciousness that dwells
in every atom, even as an ornament is non-different from gold. [3.4]
• The five elements are the seed of which the world is the tree; and the
eternal consciousness is the seed of the elements. [3.13]
• Cosmic consciousness alone exists now and ever; in it are no worlds,
no created beings. That consciousness reflected in itself appears to be
creation. [3.13]
• This consciousness is not knowable: when it wishes to become the
knowable, it is known as the universe. Mind, intellect, egotism, the five
great elements, and the world—all these innumerable names and forms
are all consciousness alone. [3.14]
• The world exists because consciousness is, and the world is the body of
consciousness. There is no division, no difference, no distinction. Hence
the universe can be said to be both real and unreal: real because of the
reality of consciousness which is its own reality, and unreal because
the universe does not exist as universe, independent of consciousness.
[3.14]
• Consciousness is pure, eternal and infinite: it does not arise nor cease
to be. It is ever there in the moving and unmoving creatures, in the
sky, on the mountain and in fire and air. [3.55]
9
• Millions of universes appear in the infinite consciousness like specks of
dust in a beam of light. In one small atom all the three worlds appear
to be, with all their components like space, time, action, substance,
day and night. [4.2]
• The universe exists in infinte consciousness. Infinite consciousness is
unmanifest, though omnipresent, even as space, though existing everywhere,
is manifest. [4.36]
• The manifestation of the omnipotence of infinite consciousness enters
into an alliance with time, space and causation. Thence arise infinite
names and forms. [4.42]
• Rudra is the pure, spontaneous self-experience which is the one consciousness
that dwells in all substances. It is the seed of all seeds, it is
the essence of this world-appearance, it is the greatest of actions. It is
the cause of all causes and it is the essence of all beings, though in fact
it does not cause anything nor is it the concept of being, and therefore
cannot be conceived. It is the awareness in all that is sentient, it knows
itself as its own object, it is its own supreme object and it is aware of
infinite diversity within itself...
The ifinite consciousness can be compared to the ultimate atom which
yet hides within its heart the greatest of mountains. It encompasses
the span of countless epochs, but it does not let go of a moment of
time. It is subtler than the tip of single strand of hair, yet it pervades
the entire universe...
It does nothing, yet it has fashioned the universe. ..All substances
are non-different from it, yet it is not a substance; though it is nonsubstantial
it pervades all substances. The cosmos is its body, yet it
has no body. [6.1.36]
The YV model of knowledge
YV is not written as a systematic text. Its narrative jumps between various
levels: psychological, biological, and physical. But since the Indian tradition
of knowledge is based on analogies that are recursive and connect various
domains, one can be certain that our literal reading of the passages is valid.
10
YV appears to accept the idea that laws are intrinsic to the universe.
In other words, the laws of nature in an unfolding universe will also evolve.
According to YV, new information does not emerge out of the inanimate
world but it is a result of the exchange between mind and matter.
It accepts consciousness as a kind of fundamental field that pervades the
whole universe. One might speculate that the parallels between YV and some
recent ideas of physics are a result of the inherent structure of the mind.
4 Other Texts
Our readings of the YV are confirmed by other texts such as the Mah¯abh¯arata
and the Pur¯an. as as they are by the philosophical systems of S¯am. khya and
Vai´ses.
ika, or the various astronomical texts.
Here is a reference to the size of the universe from the Mah¯abh¯arata
12.182:
The sky you see above is infinite. Its limits cannot be ascertained.
The sun and the moon cannot see, above or below, beyond the
range of their own rays. There where the rays of the sun and the
moon cannot reach are luminaries which are self-effulgent and
which possess splendor like that of the sun or the fire. Even these
last do not behold the limits of the firmament in consequence of
the inaccessibility and infinity of those limits. This space which
the very gods cannot measure is full of many blazing and selfluminous
worlds each above the other.
(Ganguly translation, vol. 9, page 23)
The Mah¯abh¯arata has a very interesting passage (12.233), virtually identical
with the corresponding material in YV, which describes the dissolution
of the world. Briefly, it is stated how a dozen suns burn up the earth, and
how elements get transmuted until space itself collapses into wind (one of
the elements). Ultimately, everything enters into primeval consciousness.
If one leaves out the often incongrous commentary on these ideas which
were strange to him, we find al-B¯ir¯un¯ı in his encyclopaedic book on India
written in 1030 speaking of essentially the same ideas. Here are two little
extracts:
11
The Hindus have divided duration into two periods, a period of
motion, which has been determined as time, and a period of rest,
which can only be determined in an imaginary way according to
the analogy of that which has first been determined, the period
of motion. The Hindus hold the eternity of the Creator to be
determinable, not measurable, since it is infinite.
They do not, by the word creation, understand a formation of
something out of nothing. They mean by creation only the working
with a piece of clay, working out various combinations and
figures in it, and making such arrangements with it as will lead
to certain ends and aims which are potentially in it.
(Sachau, 1910, vol 1, pages 321-322)
The mystery of consciousness is a recurring theme in Indian texts (Kak,
1997). Unfortunately, the misrepresentation that Indian philosophy is idealistic,
where the physical universe is considered an illusion, has become very
common. For an authoritative modern exposition of Indian ideas of consciousness
one must turn to Aurobindo (e.g. 1939, 1956).
5 Concluding Remarks
It appears that Indian understanding of physics was informed not only by
astronomy and terrestrial experiments but also by speculative thought and by
meditations on the nature of consciousness. Unfettered by either geocentric
or anthropocentric views, this understanding unified the physics of the small
with that of the large within a framework that included metaphysics.
This was a framework consisting of innumerable worlds (solar systems),
where time and space were continuous, matter was atomic, and consciousness
was atomic, yet derived from an all-pervasive unity. The material atoms were
defined first by their subtle form, called tanm¯atra, which was visualized as
a potential, from which emerged the gross atoms. A central notion in this
system was that all descriptions of reality are circumscribed by paradox (Kak,
1986).
The universe was seen as dynamic, going through ceaseless change.
12
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