[Advaita-l] Science and Vedantha

[Aditya Varun Chadha]

On 11/11/05, sriram <srirudra at vsnl.com> wrote:
> Dear Members
> SriMahesh Ursekar has asked whether vedantha can explain why are the laws of physics as they are.Simple.The laws of physics are Brahman made.

At first, I thought that brAhmaN is not a doer, so nothing in a pure
sense is "brAhmaN made". But you elaborate on this later in your mail,
talking about the "bheetha" caused by the dualistic perception of
brAhmaN. This "bheetha" whose cause is the dualistic perception, is
the cause of this "creation", in other words, this "physics". Thank
you for this perspective. This is a very good way of explaining the
"role" of brAhmaN in the created universe I feel.

The cause of bheetha is the observance of brAhmaN as a seperate entity
from Atman. That is why "for the fear of brAhmaN the wind blows and
the Sun shines". Once this duality is removed, there is no blowing of
wind or shining of Sun, there is just brAhmaN.

In the absolute sense it is like saying that Physics is as it is
because we percieve it as so. So the laws of physics, while not being
"brAhmaN made" in a strict sense, are the dualistic projection of
brAhmaN. So asking "why are the laws of physics as they are?" is the
same as asking "why do we dualistically perceive brAhmaN as we
perceive it?". According to vedAnta this question has relevance only
within the dualistic perception or "mAyA". Outside of it, it has no
relevance, and the purpose of vedAntic teachings is to take us beyond,
so it is a minor matter that this question is not addressed by vedAnta
directly.

Ofcourse, all this is "told" to us by vedAnta, and if one wants to
"understand" it, one has to subject vedAnta to the mind, which in
itself is a dualistic construct. With mental endeavor we can go only
so far. It is like superposition of quantum physics, as soon as
something is observed, its state of superposition becomes
unobservable. but it is from the "bheetha" of superposition that we
derive our laws of quantum mechanics. Within the constraints of mAyA,
faith is required, and that is why it is hard to "understand" vedAnta
on a pure mental basis. Faith is required because of the
unobservability of brAhmaN, the "superposition of all existance",
because observation itself is dualistic action.

Mental excercise is a good ladder, but it does not have the final
rungs. For that we need the "leap of faith".

--
Aditya Varun Chadha
adichad AT gmail.com
http://www.adichad.com
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