Science in Hinduism-Einstein Theory of relativity
Einstein is widely considered as the greatest ever scientist born on earth. He is credited for his theories like speed of light, theory of relativity, time dilation and other concepts related to space time continuum. However, you may be surprised to hear that most of his theories had already been explained thousands of years ago in ancient Hinduism scriptures. Ancient Vedic sages were familiar with the concept that time is relative and many passages on the Vedic scriptures continuously point out that the cosmic time of the gods is different than the time on earth.
Check the below 12 min video for detailed graphical explanation of this article
Theory of Relativity in Indian scriptures
There are innumerable examples of Einstein theory of relativity in ancient Indian scriptures. Modern Scientists are awestruck on seeing the strikingly similar concepts in Indian scriptures while others are surprised to find high-fi scientific concepts in Indians scriptures written thousands of years ago. Many Indian scientists consider Indian scriptures as world past history and are researching Vedas and other ancient literatures for more scientific discoveries.
Practical Example of Theory of Relativity
Suppose you are kidnapped and carried in a private smooth vehicle travelling at a speed of 100 kilometers per hour. Now you are not aware that you are travelling along with the vehicle at a speed of 100 kilometers per hour. If you look out the window, you will feel that your vehicle is stationary and the person standing outside is moving at a speed of 100 kilometers per hour. But the person standing on a road feels that he is stationary and your vehicle is moving at a speed at 100 kilometers per hour. Another stationary person might feel that your vehicle is stationary and the road is moving at a speed of 100 kilometers per hour.
This situation is very similar to our observance that the earth is stationary and the sun & moon moves from east to west.
Short conclusion of Einstein theory of relativity
1) Nothing travels faster than light.
2) It is not possible to say which object is stationary and which object is moving.
3) Every observer is correct in thinking that he is stationary and everything else is moving around.
4) Time is relative to your motion. If you travel faster, time moves slowly. If you travel at speed of light, clock stops ticking and so, even if you travel for one year, you will be of the same age you were when you started travelling at speed of light.
Suppose you are 28 years old and your brother is 26 years old. Now you start travelling from earth to space at speed of light for twenty human years. When you return back to earth, you find that you are still young and 28 years old but your brother has grown old and is 46 years old. You will be surprised to know that your younger brother has became elder and you have become the younger one.
This concept of relativity has been proved by American scientist and astronauts travelling in space on their spacecrafts. Even when the astronauts travel in spaceships for years, they feel like travelling for only few days.
Theory of relativity in Indian scriptures
To understand the story, below is the concept you must apprehend.
According to Indian scriptures, Brahma is the creator of this universe and the planet where he resides is called as “Brahma-Lok”. His creation aspect is repetitive in nature where there is a Satya yuga (Golden age) which spans for 1.728 million years, followed by Treta yuga(Silver age) spanning 1.296 million years, followed by Dwapar yuga (Bronze age) spanning 864 million years followed by Kali yuga(Dark age) spanning 432000 million years. These four yugas are repeated 71 times to form one manvantara. Manvantara is repeated fourteen times to form Half kalpa, meaning One day of Lord brahma. Another half kalpa is night of Lord Brahma.
Story of Kakudmi in Brahmalok
In satya yuga(Golden age), there lived a benevolent and courageous king called Kakudmi. He had a very beautiful daughter named revati, endowed with auspicious and mystical qualities. King Kakudmi was not able to find a suitable match for her in the entire earth and decides to travel to Brahmalok (Which exist millions of light years away from earth). When they arrived at brahma lok, Lord Brahma was listening to a musical performance by celestial Dancers. King kakudmi waited patiently for sometime till the musical performance was finished. After the musical performance when Lord Brahma asked the king for his problem, he said “I am not able to find a suitable match for my daughter ‘Revati’”. Then Lord Brahma smiles and explains that time runs differently on different planes of existence. Your few minutes in my celestial planets are equivalent to many yugas on earth. Brahma said by the time you came and stayed here, already 27 Manvantara have passed. "O King, all your ministers, wives, kinsmen, father etc, all those whom you have accepted as your sweetheart has swept away in the course of time. Today, nobody on earth knows about you or your descendants”. Shocked and surprised, king looks for a solution. Then Brahma says “If you start now, by the time you reach earth, you will be in Dwapar yuga of 28 Manvantara. There you can marry your daughter to Balaram, the avatar of Sheshnath, Lord Vishnu serpent. And You will be granted Moksha(Salvation) by none other than lord Krishna, avatar of lord Vishnu for that yuga.”
Now this story is very well explained in Indian television serial “Shri Krishna”. Below is the video
This video is in Hindi without English subtitles. I wanted to upload this video in English but I can’t because of copyright issues. Since more than 65% of my visitors are from US and other non-Hindi speaking countries, I will give second to second translation of the above video.
0-17 sec: King kakudmi: “In the entire earth, I did not see a single suitable match for my daughter ‘Revati’. So, I have come here to ask you, on which celestial planet, I shall find a suitable match for her and who will be her husband.”
18-22 sec: Lord Brahma: “You will find a husband for her at the earth itself.”
23-29 sec: King kakudmi:”But O lord, I didn’t find a single king or prince suitable for her on earth.”
29-38 sec: Lord Brahma: “The Kings and princes whom you are talking about, no longer exist at this moment”
39-41 sec: King kakudmi:”O Lord, I didn’t understand.”
42- 1 Min 50 sec: Lord Brahma: “Son, Speed of time on earth and my celestial planet (Brahmalok) is different. On earth, speed of time is so fast that in one day of Brahms loka, many yugas on earth have passed. During your stay on Brahma loka, three yugas have passed on earth. O king, don’t waste time any more. Go to earth as early as possible. Till you reach there, Dwapar yuga would have ended. At that time, Lord Sheshnath would incarnate in a human form. He along with the ever-pervading god Lord krishna may be playing game (illusions) on earth. Your daughter Revati in reality is a wife of sheshnath. Under the blessings of Devi nagalakshmi, she has incarnated on earth to serve her husband sheshnath. ”
1 Min 51 sec - 1 Min 57 sec: kakudmi pays respect to her incarnated daughter Revati.
1 Min 58 sec - 2 Min 20 sec: Lord Brahma “By giving your daughter to sheshnath, not only you will be free from your responsibility but also will you get salvation from lord Krishna. You will get the happiness of staying forever on the foots of ever pervading god.”
2 Min 21 sec - 2 Min 30 sec: King kakudmi and Daughter revati pay their respects to lord Brahma
2 Min 32 sec - 2 Min 40 sec: Travelling at speed greater than light, Narada, Celestial son of Brahma announces this news to lord Krishna.
2 Min 41 sec - 2 Min 48 sec: Lord Krishna: “You news is very auspicious. I am very happy.”
2 Min 50 sec - 3 Min 39 sec: Sage Narada: “Narayan Narayan(Narayan is name of lord vishnu). (Looking through his divine perception) narada tells lord Krishna about the travelling of various celestial planets by Princess Revati and father Kakudmi. They will be reaching on earth soon. So, prepare for welcoming them. I am leaving.”
3 Min 51 sec - 4 Min 05 sec: King kakudmi: “Daughter, we have reached earth But how will we find Lord sheshnath in this big earth.”
4 Min 07 sec - 4 Min 27 sec: Revati: “Hey father, your words are like asking how to find light in darkness. Light shows the path to the source. Look at the earth carefully. You will find the lord yourself.”
4 Min 36 sec - 4 Min 40 sec: Revati: “Look at that Daughter. Look!!! Let’s go. We should reach fast.”
In the next video, you can see the marriage of Revati with sheshnath.
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In this video, there is an interesting concept. In this video, you can see that Size of Revati and king kakudmi are very huge. Srimag bhagavatam tells that there is degrading level of species in each yuga. In satya yuga, all species are very large in size. In Treta yuga, species are relatively small compared to Satya yuga and so on with next yugas. This also explains why the animals were bigger millions of years ago and the findings of ancient giant human skeletons. There’re few more scientific concept in the above video but that shall be a separate topic of discussion but I would like to see if you are able to find any scientific concepts in this video.
Now the next story shows how Brahma was fooled in his own illusion.
Brahma vimohana Lila:
Once Lord Krishna was playing with cows and friends at Vrindavan. Brahma didn’t believe that the little kid Krishna is an incarnation of lord Vishnu. He decides to prove it to his spy. Brahma steals all the lord Krishna friends including cows and takes them to Brahma lok. When lord Krishna realizes the test of Brahma, he decides to teach Brahma a lesson. Through his mystical power, Lord Krishna creates identical copies of his friends and cows. When truti( fraction of a second) passes on brahma loka, Brahma realizes that one year has passed on earth. Brahma decides to investigate on the happenings of vrindavan and was bewildered to see Krishna playing with his friends and calves just like before. Seeing the boys and calves simultaneously both on earth and Brahma lok, Brahma realizes that Krishna is none other than lord Vishnu. Brahma also sees other Brahmas which explains the scientific concept of multiple universe, one Brahma for each universe. Krishna explains the concept of multiple universes to lord Brahma. Brahma then apologizes and sends all lord Krishna friend’s back to earth.
This story is very well explained in the below video.
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The Sanskrit word used in this story is truti. According to Vedic astronomy, truti means 1/33750 of a second.
Muchukund fight with demons in Indra loka
In treta yuga, When demons attacked Deva loka(Celestial planet few layers above earth), Indra(Lord of heaven) requested valiant warriors from other planets to fight against demons. King Muchukund from earth joined indra to fight against the demon. Their fight lasted for one year and ultimately, indra and other deities defeated the demons. After the battle, Indra asked Muchukund for a boon. King Muchukund said “I want to go back to earth to meet my family”. In a grim voice, Indra said “You fought here for only one year but millions of years have passed on earth and no one on earth remembers you now”.
Below is the video of this story along with the translation
1 sec-6 mins 30 secs: Fight with demons
7 min-8 mins 30 secs: Indra praises Muchukund and asks for a boon.
8 mins 30 secs-9 mins 50 secs: Muchukund: “I don’t need any boon. I have everything on earth courtesy of the blessings of my father and ancestors. I have a huge kingdom where all the comforts are waiting for me. I have so much happiness on earth that I don’t need anything else. So, please do me a favor by allowing me to go to earth. I have fulfilled my responsibility of serving you. You don’t need me anymore. Also, Lord shiva son has agreed to become commander in chief of your army. So, your future is safe now and hence, I request you to send me on earth where my kinsmen and wives are waiting for me”
9 mins 50 secs-10 mins 02 secs: Indra: I cannot give you this permission
10 mins 02 secs-10 mins 12 secs: Muchukund: “Cannot give??..Why can’t you?... Was there anything lacking in my servitude?”....
10 mins 13 secs-10 mins 20 secs: Indra in a grim voice: “No No..I am very happy with your service .....but .....”
10 mins 21 secs-10 mins 55 secs: Muchukund in a angry voice: “But What?.... But What Lord?.... But What Lord?....”
11 mins 34 secs-11 mins 41 secs: Indra: “King muchukund, No one from your family Exist on earth now”
11 mins 43 secs-11 mins 58 secs: muchukund: “No one exists there now. What are you saying? Did my enemies destroyed my kingdom?”
11 mins 59 secs-12 mins 08 secs: Indra: “No Emperor Muchukund. Nothing like that happened. This happened because of speed of time.”
12 mins 09 secs: -12 mins 12 secs: Muchukund: “Speed of time ....I didn’t understand O lord”.
12 mins 13 secs: -13 mins 15 secs: Indra: “King, You don’t know about speed of time. Speed of time is different in heaven and earth. Speed of time is very fast on earth. So, by the time you stayed here, one yuga has passed on earth. So much time has passed that nor your son is there nor your wives nor your citizens. On the contrary, No one knows about your clan ‘Ishvaku’.”
13 mins 16 secs: -13 mins 18 secs: muchukund: “How did this happen my lord?”
13 mins 20 secs: -15 mins 11 secs: Indra: “This is speed of time, O king. In this world, only god is indestructible else every born being has to die. Even the deities here have to die. On our time, Time god will destroy us. When I die, somebody else will take my place. So, I request you to forget about the ones who no longer exist and it is my wish that you ask for the pleasures you are looking for. I will grant you all such pleasures and comforts. I want to give you a boon. Wealth, sex, happiness, fame or anything else. I can give you anything except Moksha(Salvation) because the power of giving salvation is only with lord shiva and lord Vishnu. Ask? Ask For boon, O king? Ask For boon, O king?”
It is quite possible that Einstein may have derived his scientific theories from Indian scriptures or might have heard the similarity of his theories in Indian scriptures which is very evident from his quotes on India and its culture. Einstein was a great admirer of Indian leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore. Since Mahatma Gandhi was the follower of bhagavad Gita and always carried a copy of bhagavad gita with him, it might be possible that Einstein must have read bhagavad gita and other Indian scriptures which may have influenced his scientific theories
I will conclude this article with the following sentences from the Bhagavat Purana which explains the relativity of time:
"... One's life endures for only one hundred years, in terms of the times in the different planets... Eternal time is certainly the controller of different dimensi
ons, from that of the atom up to the super-divisions of the duration of Brahmâ's life; but, nevertheless, it is controlled by the Supreme. Time can control only those who are body conscious, even up to the Satyaloka or the other higher planets of the universe."