vedabhASya - Vedic Studies

Ganesha and kArthikeya fighting for jnAna fruit The story of Ganesha and Karthikeya fighting for 'jnAna' fruit is a familiar one. The basic story is like this. Shiva and Shakti want to give a 'fruit' of jnAna/wisdom to their sons. But the challenge is it cannot be apportioned or divided between them. It has to be given completely and hence to only one of them. So they hold a challenge. Whoever comes around the Universe first, they would get the jnAna fruit completely. Karthikeya mounts his peacock and goes around the Universe. Ganesha simply goes around his parents and claims that parents are his Universe. Ganesha gets the jnAna fruit. This story is interpreted in various ways with different philosophical masks and meanings. I see this story differently. I think it is interpreted as a 'story' from scientific explanation of a physical event that happens everyday. Shiva is energy. Shakti is Momentum. The 'fruit' they are giving is ...

Background In the last 2 blogs I had described the ‘scalar’, vector and spinor fields and particles that rise from the spinor field. Apart from Sura, Asura, Rakshasa and Yaksha, there are few other celestial beings that are talked about in Vedas and Puranas. They are Daitya, Aditya, Apsaras, Gandharva and Devas. Let’s go into these.. Force-fields as abodes and weapons Shiva is energy. Vishnu is mass. Then there are three fundamental Quantum Vector force-fields. They are Strong, Weak and Electromagnetic force-fields. There is a Scalar force-field which is Higgs.  The force-fields are either ‘celestial abodes’ or ‘celestial weapons’.   They are ‘abodes’ of Energy (Shiva), Mass (Vishnu) or Charge (Yama). Strong force-field are abode of Energy (Shiva). This is kailAsa. Weak force field are abode of Mass (Vishnu). This is vaikuNTha. Electromagnetic force-field are abode of Charge (Yama). This is Yamaloka. These force-fields are weapons when they deliver t...

Background In the last blog I explained how 'foam' is the Scalar field, 'conch' is the spinor field, 'Chakra' and other weapons are the 'Vector' fields of the Standard Model. Let's see about the excitations that arise from these fields in this blog. Conch - The Panchajanya - Pancha Jana Conch is the Spinor, spin-½ field. The excitation of Spinor field or conch gives rise to a class of particles called fermions. All the Universal matter are made of fermions. Thus it is said that the Universe arises out of the ‘sound’ (excitation) of the Conch. The fermions are of five types or five races. They are called the ‘Pancha Jana’ in Vedas. The pancha jana are  quarks antiquarks electrons positrons and  neutrinos.  These are five races because each race has number of particles based on flavor, color and handedness. Handedness is the Right-handed and left-handed (Chirality) that applies to all the five races. This is the ...

Background It is important before I proceed with saMkhya kArika translation, I set the background of the quantum world which it refers to, so that the beauty of saMkhya kArika could be appreciated. The three domains There are three domains. The quantum domains, the classical domain and the cosmology domain. All three worlds are governed by thermodynamic principles of energy and enthalpy, though each one of them have their own nuances. It is the property of mass (Vishnu) that manifests differently in different domains and evolve the Universe. In the Quantum world it is the Higgs field interaction. In the Classical world it is 'inertia'. In cosmology it is 'Gravity'. Thus Vishnu is called 'Tri-vikrama', the one who sets up order over the three domains. ‘Krama’ means order. Vikrama is one who sets that order. Tri-vikrama is one who sets that order in all three domains. In this blog let's look at some of the concepts in Quantum domain. Fields a...

In response to a request to write about  Saneeswara, Tirunallaru and stories that come around it Saneeswara mantra Neelanjana samabhasam raviputram yamakrajam Chaya martanda sambhutam tam namami saneeswaram The son of Ravi, brother of Yama, non-cognizable blue (ultra-violet), that comes together as a shadow from the Sun (that springs from lifeless sphere), to that Saneeswara, salutations. Anjana is translated as ‘non-cognizant’, ‘illusory’ etc. It is interpreted as a mountain. Neela anjana is the illusory/non-cognizable blue which I translate as ultra-violet. samabhasam means 'appearance'. 'raviputram' is Son of Ravi. Ravi is sun. yamakrajam is brother of yama. chAya mArtAnda sambhutam means 'the shadow/shade that comes together from that springs from a lifeless egg' At first the molecular clouds are life-less. They are mrta-anda (life-less spheres/eggs). But due to gravitational pressure, they compress and the lifeless sphere starts heating...

Background Very often Vedas, Upanishads, Puranas or saMkhya are seen as 'distinct' literatures that developed at different points of time.  They are also interpreted as different philosophies. In my understanding it is not true. They are all part of the same thoughts flowing across.  Before I proceed with saMkhya kArika, few more words on Energy as seen in Puranic texts from what we understood in saMkhya context. Universe evolution from Energy perspective Radiation dominated era At first the Hiranya-garbha, the uterus of four dimensional spacetime manifested. Then the Hiranya-garbha expanded to Brahma, the expanded spacetime, during cosmic inflation. On this Brahma, the Rudras or force-fields manifested. Shiva, the vacuum energy manifested in these force-fields, resulting in particles that traveled in the speed of light. Universe was filled with radiation as particles of force-fields traveled in  the speed of light.   In this Un...

Background Before I go on with slokas, as a corollary of saMkhya, I wanted to write about prAna pratishta.  Whenever we do any puja (Sarasvati, Lakshmi, Ganapati etc) we first do prAna pratishta. The prAna pratishta mimmicks the Universal evolution process, invokes the establishment of biological functions in the idol, making it a living being and finally invokes the 'aham' in us, in the idol and making it a 'mUrti'. The process of prAna prathisthA converts an idol into a 'mUrthi'. 'mUrti' means an embodiment. It is a manifestation of divinity in idol and not just the idol of divinity. The Universal evolution process The evolution process in Universe follows few steps 1. Fluctuations that lead to symmetry breaking (Rsi) 2. Symmetry breaking leading to building up of next level of matter complexity. For eg. force-fields to particles, particles to atoms and compounds, compounds to life. This classical matter world is guided by Potential En...