Ancient Hindu wisdom and its potential scientific insights.
Fact or Coincident?
Marking the transition from nomadic to gatherer societies, baseless beliefs became deeply
entrenched parts of human life. Religion, made-up, bizarre, fictitious stories, are believed to
be myths by many. But are they? Hinduism, founded between 2300 B.C. and 1500 B.C.,
boasts scientific pieces of evidence about its reality.
The theory of evolution finds its interpretation in Shrimad Bhagavatam through the 10
avatars of lord Vishnu, resembling the various stages of evolution. First of all; the Matsya
avatar, where the god is in the form of a fish, symbolizes the aquatic origin as suggested by
Darwin. After that; Kurma avatar, lord Vishnu in the form of a tortoise represents the
evolution of Pisces to reptilians. Next comes Varaha avatar, a god in the form of a boar,
which resembles evolution to mammals. In this stage, aquatic animals began adapting to
terrestrial lifestyle. The transition from apes to humans is depicted by the Narasimha avatar.
In this form, Lord Vishnu was neither human nor an animal. The fifth avatar, the Vamana
avatar resembles human ancestors. Parshurama avatar, a man with an axe in his hands,
resembles a stone age when human beings hunted animals for survival. Seventh avatar;
Ram, depicts civilized society. Krishna avatar is a symbol of a politically well-versed society.
At last, Buddha's avatar guides resemblance to humanity seeking higher knowledge and
consciousness.
Hinduism long denied the myth of flat earth. Hindu scriptures and mythological tales,
Bhagwad Purana and Garud Purana reveal the Varaha avatar, the third avatar of lord
Vishnu, to have cradled the earth to save it from a demon. Archaeological discoveries of
stone carvings and inscriptions revealed him holding a sphere earth. This perpetuates the
understanding that sages thousands of years ago realized the spherical nature of the earth,
predating the scientific confirmation by approximately 1600 years.
This incident, as mentioned in Bhagwada Purana, highlights the presence of a large ocean
in space. As the story goes, the demon Hiranyaksha had drowned the earth in water present
in space. This tale is supported by NASA’s discovery of the largest and farthest reservoir of
water, about 140 trillion times the water present on the Earth. So, this discovery guides a
possibility of being the same ocean Hiranyaksha drowned the earth in.
Rig Veda, one of the sacred Vedas of Hinduism, guides reference to various kinds of
chariots. Trichakra ratha, a three-wheeled vehicle designed to operate in the air as
mentioned in rig Veda 4.36.1, predates airplanes by thousands of years. Vayu Ratha, a gas
or wind-powered Ratha (Rig Veda 5.41.6), has common grounds with helicopters. Pushpa
Viman, mentioned in the epic Ramayana, is an application of this type of vehicle. Similarly,
Vidhyuth Ratha (Rig Veda 3.14.1), a vehicle that operates on electromagnetic power, aligns
closely with the application of electromagnetic principles.
Rig Veda has also mentioned the speed of light. It alludes to the speed of light to 2202
yojana per ½ nimisha. When this value is converted to modern units, it approximates
295797.1053312 km/sec which is only a 1.33 percent error as compared to the modern
value of the speed of light.
Yajur Veda contains intriguing references to celestial bodies. This grant, composed between
1200 and 800 BCE, mentions the fact that the sun isn’t stationary, which aligns with the
discovery in the late 1600s that the sun rotates around its axis. Similarly, it was also
discovered that the sun revolves around the Milky Way galaxy. Likewise, in Ch. 23 verse 10
of this Veda hinted that the moon doesn’t have its own
light.
As highlighted in the Hindu epic Mahabharata, Gandhari had given birth to a piece of meat.
As per sage Ved Vyas’s suggestion, it was divided into 100 pieces and kept in matkas(pots).
After a few days, Duryodhana, the first Kaurava was born. This ancient account possesses a
striking resemblance to the principles of modern reproductive technology, particularly the
concept of in vitro fertilization. Its similarity with test tube technology raises profound
questions about the knowledge of Hindu ancestors on artificial means of reproduction.
Lord Vishwakarma, also known as a divine architect, is known to have created marvelous
architecture. His pictures are depicted with scales, measuring tapes, and many such tools
used in the fields of engineering and architecture which tell us about a rich technological
history that dates back thousands of years.
The dance of Lord Shiva’s avatar Nataraj shows a similarity to the vibration pattern of
creation and destruction of particles. This parallel showcases that every matter in the
universe participates in a cosmic dance. Carl Sagan, an American astronomer popular for
his study of the cosmos, said, “The Hindu religion is the only one of the world’s great
faiths dedicated to the idea that the Cosmos itself undergoes an immense, indeed an
infinite, number of deaths and rebirths. It is the only religion in which the time scales
correspond to those of modern scientific cosmology. Its cycles run from our ordinary day
and night to a day and night of Brahma, 8.64 billion years long. Longer than the age of the
Earth or the Sun and about half the time since the Big Bang. “This similarity is noted in the
presence of a Nataraja avatar statue kept at the CERN laboratory.
Electromagnetism is also a profound concept in Sanatana Dharma. Modern science is
beginning to learn that the earth’s magnetic field can affect a person’s mood and emotions.
Vedic texts unravel directions people should face while performing certain yagyas or tasks.
This parallel tells us about the rich knowledge of our ancestors which transcends time.
Hinduism also elucidated an astronomical hypothesis, the multiverse. As mentioned in the
Bhagavata Purana, lord Krishna enlightened Brahma, the creator of the universe, with the
concept of multiverse. This intriguing fact foreshadows this concept coined by American
philosopher James William in 1895 A.D. for more than 2000 years.
As modern science continues to advance, it unveils facts mentioned in ancient texts and
aligns these facts with our current understanding of the world. These concepts and ideas
transcend time, drawing insights into the rich scientific, logical, and reasonable thinking of
the past. Are these occurrences merely coincidental, or can they be explained by science?
