Advaitha

(special essay .Yuvabharathy October 1984.page 43-47.)

Nature’s great variety often conceals an underlying symmetry as in the structure of crystals and molecules.Physicists are searching for a supersymmetry which will unite the subatomic world of quantum physics with the universal force of gravity.If we rotate a snowflake about its center through sixty degrees ,the initial and final positions are indistinguishable.Therefore we say that a snowflake has rotational symmetry .In an analogous way ,the equations describing physical processes may exhibit symmetry.
This theory of symmetry is expounded by ancient astronomers in the rotational symmetry of the universe.The rotational symmetry of the Raasichakra and the calculations of yugaas and kalpaas are all based on the 60 lunar years and their multiples.

Quantum electrodynamics(QED)and quantum chromodynamics(QCD)attempt at unification of all the fundamental forces of nature and act as a modern Advaitha philosophy.Noether’s theorem dictates that quantum field theory represents conservation of momentum as a symmetry of the equation under translation in time.All particles of which the universe is composed of ,are divided into 2 categories –fermions and bosons-distinguished by the spin of the particle.Aphoton having a spin of one unit is a boson ,while protons ,neutrons and electrons having a spin of one half are fermions.

Fermions obey an exclusion principle (discovered by Wolfgang Pauli)which prevents two identical fermions from occupying the same state.Were it not for this principle ,chemistry and life would have been impossible.Every fermion has an associated antiparticle,having equal mass but opposite charge and spin.The antiparticle of a negatively charged electron is a positively charged positron.When a particle and an antiparticle meet ,they annihilate to produce a burst of energy.






On the other hand,any number of identical bosons may reside in one quantum state,and there is no exclusive principle to be obeyed by the bosons and there are no antiparticles.According to modern theories,constituents of matter are all fermions,while bosons are the intermediary particles that carry the forces.They bind the electron to to the nucleus of an atom and in an electroweak theory ,fermions interact by exchanging photons;Supersymmetry theory is a new symmetry principle that links fermions with bosons in a way consistent with the requirements of the quantum field theory.
In 1974,,Julius Weiss came forward with his theory of symmetry transformation .According to it ,each fermion should have a bosonic partner of identical mass and vice versa.Supersymmetry thus links apparently disparate phenomena just as electromagnetism and light were linked together 100 years ago by Maxwell’s theory.If transformation which turns a fermion into boson is applied a second time ,the result is predictably a fermion.The final fermion is in a different position in space from the initial fermion.
An elementary particle for a fleeting second becomes a pair of particles with different changes and recombine to produce the original which occupy a different point in space.From this,we can find that quantum electrodynamics is producing infinite answers to finite questions.
The mirror image antiparticle theory is not limited to the field of quantum electrodynamics.Modern geography and astronomy speak about the existence of an antiuniverse somewhere in the cosmos with its characteristics reversed to those normally found in this universe.In the 186th meeting of the American Chemical society ,Dr Cyrill Ponnaperuma read a paper on the structure of meteorites embedded in the Antarctican ice.The aminoacids of this meteorite have a dextrorotatory configuration quite contrary to the levorotatory configuration ,on our planet.The discovery of antimatter has led scientists to consider the possibility of the existence of an antiuniverse somewhere in the cosmos.
Chunks of antimatter from the antiuniverse are hurled towards our universe ,just as meteorites are being thrown towards earth from other parts of our universe.The highly abstruse theoretical physics dealing with the principle of symmetry laws suggest that processes ,phenomena and events happening in this universe must have their counterparts in a reverse manner in another universe which we may call antiuniverse.If a fundamental particle exists in this universe ,we must have a similar particle somewhere in the cosmos but it will be like the one seen by reflecting it in a mirror.The time event also is in a reverse manner .That is,”the reel of time will be functioning in the reverse direction to that going on in our universe:The future events in the antiuniverse are perhaps the past events in this universe.”These words appear in the Physical Geography edited by Das Gupta and Kapoor(1979).One remembers the words of the famous philosopher Bertrand Russell ,”In science,it is the past that determines the future and not the future the past.”Paradoxically enough,it is this very basics of astrology which is being crucified by those who follow Russel’s footprints.Theory of karma of ancient Hindu philosophers and astronomers depict the universe and the antiuniverse in the Savya,Apasavya cycle of the Raasi chakra.The 14 worlds –7 above and 7 below-represent the mirror image universes and antiuniverses.Sankara calls it Bimbaprathibimbaathmaka(mirror image).Varahamihira starts his Hora with the opening lines
……………………..
“Karmaarjitham poorvabhave sadaadi
Yathanyapankthym samabhivyanakthi”
Is it not scientific to ask people to remember that our present will be the past of the future generations and act accordingly so that events in the future universes can be determined to some extant by our own actions and will?
If the future is determined by the past,as Russel puts it,there is nothing unscientific in this Karma theory.
When we study the structure of a crystal,we come across the geometrical concept of a lattice which is the periodic and regular repetitive arrangement of the representative atom points in space.We consider the abstract force as a concept and the crystal as the real thing.But ancient sages ask us:Is it not foolish to think that the crystal is the real ,while we know that it it does not exist without the binding force within and behind it?Is not this abstract and unseen force real ,because it is the one which gives the infinite shape to the crystal?They tell us that the finite crystal is the unreal or Maaya and the infinite binding force is the real.Thus Advaitha becomes applicable from the smallest molecule to the most complex universe.
“Everyone who deals with the phenomena of Pathology soon comes to know that nature often speaks the secrets with a still small voice out of a dense thicket of happenings.”So said Peyton Rous (1879-1970),a noted pathologist of Rous Sarcoma fame and Nobel laureate .It may be difficult to hear that still small voice in the tumult and confusion of everyday life.But once we hear it,every other voice is drowned in its glory and the” real world “ as we call it becomes a Maaya.