Scientific Dating Of Vedas

This article appeared in the Op-ed column of deccan chronicle paper.I felt it is worth sharing.here is the Original article.Enjoy reading.Credits to Deccan chronicle news paper and the original author.

The Vedas are described as apaurusheya, that is, written by no man. They were transmitted down from one generation to the next without anyone having a clue as to who wrote them. This question of authorship of the Vedas is linked with another, perhaps more tractable, question: When were they written? From the study of the contents, the language and allusions to events, Western scholars arrived at the figure of around 3.5 to four thousand years ago as the age of Vedic literature.

Lokamanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak, known to most Indians for his leadership of the Indian national movement for Independence, before the arrival on the scene of Mahatma Gandhi, had a multifaceted personality. He was well versed in mathematics, had written a learned commentary of the Bhagavad Gita called the Geetarahasya, had a philosophical bent and took great interest in social issues besides running a national newspaper, Kesari, of which he was also the editor. Last, but not the least, he possessed basic knowledge of astronomy which he put to use in a highly original fashion to decide the antiquity of the Vedas.

To understand the basis of Tilak’s approach, let us first look at the way the earth spins around its axis as it goes round the sun. It is because of that spin that we see the heavenly bodies go westward in the sky in a 24-hour cycle. Only the Pole Star appears to be fixed in space, because it lies on the axis of spin. An excellent comparison with the earth’s spin is provided by a spinning top, which can be spun by pulling the string wrapped around it. With sufficient practice, one can toss such a top on the floor and watch it move round as it spins.

Such a spinning top shows another feature. Its axis of spin is not fixed in space, but it precesses, that is, moves along a cone thus making the top wobble. The same applies to the earth: its spin axis too precesses in space. But, did we not say that it is fixed in the direction of the Pole Star? Well, that was an approximate statement. It will be more accurate to say that the axis precesses very slowly, making a single round on the cone in around 26,000 years. So to us mortals it seems fixed in space within our sub-century lifespan. However, if we compare astronomical records over several centuries we would discover this motion. For example, the star Polaris (or the star Dhruva in Indian literature) was not the Pole Star 5,000 years ago. Another star, today known as Thuban, had that status because the earth’s spin axis pointed in its direction then.

But can a layman notice any change in the stellar or terrestrial environment when looking at the astronomical records? The answer is “yes” and to see how that happens, let us see how, when viewed from the earth, the sun changes its direction through the year. Observers over the centuries have used known stellar groups to identify this change of direction. These are the so-called signs of the zodiac. So the sun moves against the zodiacal background and can be located with reference to the sign of stars at its back. The calendar of the year identifies the 12 signs of the zodiac with 12 months and the apparent path of the sun is called the ecliptic.

We learn in school geography that the length of the day changes through the year, being the longest on June 21 and the shortest on December 22. In between, there are two locations on the ecliptic where the day and night are equal. These are called the spring equinox and the autumn equinox. These fall on March 21 and September 21 respectively. This variation in the length of the day would not have occurred if the earth’s spin axis were perpendicular to the ecliptic. In reality, the axis makes an angle of approximately 66 degrees. And as we saw earlier, the spin axis is slowly precessing. The result is that the points of equinox also slowly move along the ecliptic, taking 26,000 years to make one round.

We also learn in geography texts that seasons arise because of the above configuration. Spring begins when the sun is at the spring equinox and autumn when it is at the autumn equinox. However, as we just saw, the equinoxal points slowly change their positions against the zodiacal groups of stars. Therefore, in the annual calendar, the months identified with a season will slowly change. In particular, if we decide to start the year with the sun at the spring equinox, the first month of the year would change because of the slow shift of the spring equinox.

This was the clue that Tilak worked on. He was led to it by a shloka from the Bhagavad Gita in which Lord Krishna, identifying himself with the best and most important in any class of objects or people, says: “I am Margashirsha amongst the months and spring amongst the seasons”.

In modern times Margashirsha does not fall in the spring season; rather it falls closer to the autumn. So why this discrepancy? The discrepancy is resolved if we argue that the statement was made when Margashirsha fell in the spring season. By turning the earth clock backwards, we move the equinoxes backwards until the spring equinox was in the zodiacal group identified with Margashirsha. This gave him an estimate of the antiquity of the statement.

Tilak used this approach to look at astronomical allusions in Vedic literature and from them sought to build up the stellar framework that must have existed when the statement was made. His monograph, The Orion: Research into the Antiquity of the Vedas, is a scholarly discussion of this approach. He arrived at an age for the Vedas much older than the age estimated by Western scholars. This opened the door to controversy as to which method is correct. While Tilak’s reliance on astronomical data gave him a reliable clock, the weakness of his method probably lay in the authenticity of the allusions he had used. Whatever the eventual outcome of this ongoing exercise of dating our ancient literature, we have to give credit to Tilak for his ingenious approach.

- Jayant V. Narlikar is a professor emiritus at
Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pune University Campus, and a renowned astrophysicist

 

Principle of astrology proven to be scientific

I was browsing through some group pages and found this article. Hope this was worth sharing.here is the original part of the article.Credits to the original author.

Principle of astrology proven to be scientific: planetary position imprints biological clocks of mammals

by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor

(NaturalNews) Mention the word "astrology" and skeptics go into an epileptic fit. The idea that someone's personality could be imprinted at birth according to the position of the sun, moon and planets has long been derided as "quackery" by the so-called "scientific" community which resists any notion based on holistic connections between individuals and the cosmos.

According to the conventional view, your genes and your parenting determine your personality, and the position of planet Earth at the time of your birth has nothing to do with it.

Then again, conventional scientists don't believe the position of the moon has anything to do with life on Earth, either. They dismiss the wisdom that farmers have known for ages -- that planting seeds or transplanting living plants in harmony with the moon cycles results in higher crop yields. Even the seeds inside humans are strongly influenced by the moon, as menstruation cycles and moon cycles are closely synchronized (28 days, roughly).

Researchers demonstrate scientific principle of astrology

Skeptics must be further bewildered by the new research published in Nature Neuroscience and conducted at Vanderbilt University which unintentionally provides scientific support for the fundamental principle of astrology -- namely, that the position of the planets at your time of birth influences your personality.

In this study, not only did the birth month impact personality; it also resulted in measurable functional changes in the brain.

This study, conducted on mice, showed that mice born in the winter showed a "consistent slowing" of their daytime activity. They were also more susceptible to symptoms that we might call "Seasonal Affective Disorder."

The study was carried out by Professor of Biological Sciences Douglas McMahon, graduate student Chris Ciarleglio, post-doctoral fellow Karen Gamble and two additional undergraduate students, none of whom believe in astrology, apparently. They do, of course, believe in science, which is why all their study findings have been draped in the language of science even though the findings are essentially supporting principles of astrology.

"What is particularly striking about our results is the fact that the imprinting affects both the animal's behavior  and the cycling of the neurons in the master biological clock in their brains," said Ciarleglio. This is one of the core principles of astrology: That the position of the planets at the time of your birth (which might be called the "season" of your birth) can actually result in changes in your brain physiology which impact lifelong behavior.

Once again, such an idea sounds preposterous to the scientifically trained, unless of course they discover it for themselves, at which point it's all suddenly very "scientific." Instead of calling it "astrology," they're now referring to it as "seasonal biology."

How to discredit real science

It all reminds me of the discovery of cold fusion in 1989 by Fleishmann and Pons, who were widely ridiculed by the arrogant hot fusion researchers who tried to destroy the credibility (and careers) of cold fusion researchers (http://www.naturalnews.com/025925_c...). After the very idea of "cold fusion" was attacked and demolished by these arrogant scientists, it soon returned under a new name: Low-Energy Nuclear Reactions (LENR).

LENR has now been verified as true by none other than the U.S. Navy -- along with hundreds of other researchers around the world (see link above). And yet, even today, the conventional scientific community still insists cold fusion doesn't exist and cold fusion researchers are frauds.

Just as there is a solid scientific basis for LENR, there is a scientific basis for astrology, too. The relationship between the Earth, Moon and Sun naturally alter light exposure, temperature, gravitational pull and other conditions that may be sensed by living organisms. To believe in astrology, all that's really required is to grasp the basic concepts of the interrelationships between all living things. Does the position of the sun or moon influence life on Earth? Of course it does: Life as we know it wouldn't even exist without the moon tugging on Earth and preventing its rotational axis from shifting around to the point where radical changes in seasonal temperatures would make life far more challenging. (The moon, in other words, is one of the key "stabilizers" of life on planet Earth because it tends to stabilize the seasons and keep the Earth on a steady rotational plane.)

None of this, of course, means that the position of Saturn today is going to make you win the lottery or find a new love. That's the tabloid version of astrology, not real astrology.

Don't confuse tabloid astrology with real astrology

Even astronomy has its tabloid versions, too, which are entirely non-scientific. For example, every model of our solar system that I've ever seen is a wildly inaccurate tabloid version of reality, with planet sizes ridiculously exaggerated and planet distances not depicted to scale. These silly, non-scientific solar system models imprint a kind of solar system mythology into the minds of schoolchildren and even school teachers. Virtually no one outside the communities of astrophysics and astronomy has any real grasp of the enormity of not merely our solar system, but of our galaxy and the space between neighboring galaxies.

To show a giant sun the size of a basketball, with a depiction of the Earth as a marble-sized planet three inches away is the astronomical equivalent of a gimmicky horoscope claiming you're going to win the lottery today because you were born under the sign of Pisces. Both are fictions. And both are an insult to real science.

In fact, even the whole idea that an "electron" is a piece of physical matter, made up of other "particles" is an insult to real science. The sobering truth of the matter is that "particle physics" doesn't have much to do with actual particles at all. It's all about energies that might, on occasion, vibrate in just the right way so that they momentarily appear to take on the illusion of a particle as measured by our observers -- observers who inevitably alter the outcome of the entire experiment, by the way, once again proving the interrelated nature of things in our universe, including observer and experiment.

The horoscope predictions in the Sunday paper -- as well as much of the hilarious mythology found in the modern description of an atom -- are both simplified, comic-book versions of a larger truth -- the truth that we live in a holistic universe where every bit of physical matter, every bit of energy and every conscious mind impacts the rest of the universe in subtle ways. There is no such thing as an individual who is isolated from the cosmos, because we are of the cosmos and we exist as the physical manifestations of energies that, for our lifetimes, are momentarily organized as beings.

We are made of star stuff, says Carl Sagan. He he's right: We are not only made of star stuff, we are influenced by that stuff, too. And finally, modern science is beginning to catch up to this greater truth that astrologers have known since the dawn of human existence on our tiny planet.
 

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Secret Behind OM

"OM" is a word known to all of us .But its benefits ??
ok let me start this post with an amazing fact
** OM is a word which can be spoken by DUMB people also**
Amazing isn't it?? yeah why dont you try it out ??Just try pronouncing OM without shaking your tongue?? were you able to tell??
OM is made up of three components A,U.M and it is derived from Vedas.It is representative of the Supreme God Principle (Parabrahman).

If you observe the nature of sound you'll find that all ordinary audible sound are produced by the striking of two objects : bow and strings, drum and stick, two vocal cords, waves against the shore, winds against the leaves, bat against the ball, tyers against the road etc. In short all sounds within our range of listening are produces by things visible or invisible, striking each other or vibrating together, resulting in pulsating waves of air molecules which we interprets as sound.

In contrast to the above, OM is the sound which is not the result of the striking of two objects. It, rather emanates on its own. It is the primal sound of the universe that contains all sounds in itself.

Chanting of Om has several benefits – therapeutic, psychological and spiritual. Even if you don’t know the meaning of Om or are otherwise skeptic about it, you can still avail the therapeutic benefits from it.
The vibration produced by chanting Om in the physical universe corresponds to the original vibration that first arose at the time of creation. The sound of Om is also called Pranava, meaning that it sustains life and runs through Prana or breath.
It has been scientifically proved that singing OM has invaluable vibratory effects in our bodies, helps to achieve slow, regular and complete exhalation, aids to control and relax our breathing system and has several soothing effects in our minds.

Lets now look at the benefits of OM

The sustained 'O' -formed by the 'AU'- sound makes all the bones of the thoracic cage vibrate, proving that vibration is communicated to the mass of air contained in our lungs and that the delicate membrane of alveolus in contact with this air vibrates too, this stimulates the pulmonary cells and enables an optimum gaseous exchange in our lungs. Furthermore, the latest research of many Western physiologists has also shown how this vibration produces very accentuated effects in the endocrine glands, to which Science is gradually attributing an increasing importance.

Besides, the vibrant internal massage resulting from the emission of the vowels 'au', acts especially in the abdominal organs and the organs of the thoracic cage, whilst the vibration of the 'mmm' in our skulls induces a vibration of the cranial nerves.

The therapeutic or health benefits:-

Om is a foolproof method to add healthy years to your life.

a. Chanting of Om several times would relax your entire body and regulate your hormonal system.

b. If you have disorders due to anxiety or worry, or you tend to lose temper, there can be no better remedy.

c. It acts like a detoxifying agent for entire body. If your environment is polluted, you MUST use it.

d. It strengthens heart and circulatory system.

e. It will make your digestion stronger.

f. It will bring youthfulness in body and face.

g. If you are tired and exhausted, it can serve as a great rejuvenator.

h. It can solve most worrisome sleep disturbance patterns, in case you suffer from it. You would wake up alert from sleep if you practice it in night.

i. It strengthens your lungs with some practice.

Psychological benefits:-

a. It can make you much more relaxed to face the world around comfortably.

b. It can help you control your anger and frustration. If you have been chanting Om regularly, it is unlikely that you get angry.

c. It can help you be in resonance with nature. Thus you would find yourself much more intuitive and in control of things. Your gut feel will become much higher.

d. Your interpersonal relationships will improve. You would be able to develop rapport with people much better and make friends from enemies.

e. You will find life much more meaningful and purposeful and carry that natural smile.

f. You will find a jump in your enthusiasm and activity level. Your alertness would increase.

Other Benefits:-

-The chanting of Om drives away all worldly thoughts and removes distraction and infuses new vigour in the body.

-When you feel depressed, chant Om fifty times and you will be filled with new vigour and strength. The chanting of Om is a powerful tonic. -When you chant Om, you feel you are the pure, all pervading light and consciousness.

-Those who chant Om will have a powerful, sweet voice. Whenever you take a stroll, you can chant Om. You can also sing Om in a beautiful way. -The rythmic pronunciation of Om makes the mind serene and pointed, and infuses the spiritual qualifications which ensure self-realization.

-Those who do meditation of Om daily will get tremendous power. They will have lustre in their eyes and faces.

The OM being chanted during the exhalation, it directly contributes to make it slow, regular and complete. The emission of the 'Au' sound limits the pace of the expired air, and the benefits of slow breathing are numerous and well known by Yoga practitioners

So get on and start Chanting OM to reap the sweetest fruits. Wonder How?? Here are some tips to get you started

-Sit in a quiet place in a comfortable posture.

-close your eyes relax your body and nerves.

-Take few deep breaths

-Start chanting OM and feel its vibration.

-continue till you feel comfortable.

-When finished just relax and open your eyes.

Om is the ladder which takes the aspirant to the loftier levels of superconsciousness and spiritual heights of splendor and glory.

GAYATRI MANTRA & Its Scientific Meaning



Gayatri mantra has been bestowed the greatest importance in Vedic dharma. This mantra has also been termed as Savitri and Ved-Mata, the mother of the Vedas.

Om bhur bhuvah swah

Tat savitur varenyam

Bhargo devasya dheemahi

Dhiyo yo nah prachodayat


The literal meaning of the mantra is:

O God! You are Omnipresent, Omnipotent and Almighty, You are all Light. You are all Knowledge and Bliss. You are Destroyer of fear, You are Creator of this Universe, You are the Greatest of all. We bow and meditate upon Your light. You guide our intellect in the right direction.


The mantra, however, has a great scientific importance too, which somehow got lost in the literary tradition. The modern astrophysics and astronomy tell us that our Galaxy called Milky Way or Akash-Ganga contains approximately 100,000 million of stars. Each star is like our sun having its own planet system. We know that the moon moves round the earth and the earth moves round the sun along with the moon. All planets round the sun. Each of the above bodies revolves round at its own axis as well. Our sun along with its family takes one round of the galactic center in 22.5 crore years. All galaxies including ours are moving away at a terrific velocity of 20,000 mile s per second.



And now the alternative scientific meaning of the mantra step by step:

(A). OM BHUR BHUVAH SWAH:

Bhur the earth, bhuvah the planets (solar family), swah the Galaxy. We observe that when an ordinary fan with a speed of 900 RPM (rotations Per minute) moves, it makes noise. Then, one can imagine, what great noise would be created when the galaxies move with a speed of 20,000 miles per second. This is what this portion of the mantra explains that the sound produced due to the fast-moving earth, planets and galaxies is Om. The sound was heard during meditation by Rishi Vishvamitra, who mentioned it to other colleagues. All of them, then unanimously decided to call this sound Om the name of God, because this sound is available in all the three periods of time, hence it is set (permanent). Therefore, it was the first ever revolutionary idea to identify formless God with a specific title (form) called upadhi. Until that time, everybody recognized God as formless and nobody was prepared to accept this new idea. In the Gita also, it is said, "Omiti ekaksharam brahma", meaning that the name of the Supreme is Om , which contains only one syllable (8/12). This sound Om heard during samadhi was called by all the seers nada-brahma a very great noise), but not a noise that is normally heard beyond a specific amplitude and limits of decibels suited to human hearing. Hence the rishis called this sound Udgith musical sound of the above, i.e., heaven. They also noticed that the infinite mass of galaxies moving with a velocity of 20,000 miles/second was generating a kinetic energy = 1/2 MV2 and this was balancing the total energy consumption of the cosmos. Hence they named it Pranavah, which means the body (vapu) or store house of energy



(prana).

(B). TAT SAVITUR VARENYAM:

Tat that (God), savitur the sun (star), varenyam worthy of bowing or respect. Once the form of a person along with the name is known to us, we may locate the specific person.Hence the two titles (upadhi) provide the solid ground to identify the formless God, Vishvamitra suggested. He told us that we could know (realize) the unknowable formless God through the known factors, viz., sound Om and light of suns (stars). A mathematician can solve an equation x2+y2=4; if x=2; then y can be known and so on. An engineer can measure the width of a river even by standing at the riverbank just by drawing a triangle. So was the scientific method suggested by Vishvamitra in the mantra in the next portion as under:-


(C). BHARGO DEVASYA DHEEMAHI:

Bhargo the light, devasya of the deity, dheemahi we should meditate. The rishi instructs us to meditate upon the available form (light of suns) to discover the formless Creator (God). Also he wants us to do japa of the word Om (this is understood in the Mantra). This is how the sage wants us to proceed, but there is a great problem to realize it, as the human mind is so shaky and restless that without the grace of the Supreme (Brahma) it cannot be controlled. Hence Vishvamitra suggests the way to pray Him as under:

(D). DHIYO YO NAH PRACHODAYAT:

Dhiyo (intellect), yo (who), nah (we all), prachodayat (guide to right Direction). O God! Deploy our intellect on the right path. Full scientific interpretation of the Mantra: The earth (bhur), the planets (bhuvah), and the galaxies (swah) are moving at a very great velocity, the sound produced is Om , (the name of formless God.) That God (tat), who manifests Himself in the form of light of suns (savitur) is worthy of bowing/respect (varenyam). We all, therefore, should meditate (dheemahi) upon the light (bhargo) of that deity (devasya) and also do chanting of Om. May He (yo) guide in right direction (prachodayat) our(nah) intellect dhiyo.



So we notice that the important points hinted in the mantra are:-
1) The total kinetic energy generated by the movement of galaxies acts as an umbrella and balances the total energy consumption of the cosmos. Hence it was named as the Pranavah (body of energy). This is equal to 1/2 mv2 (Mass of galaxies x velocity.

Power of Prayer

In this post i am going to discuss about the power of prayers.In ancient India, Prayer was believed to bring about peace, luck,prosperity, wellbeing and all goodness. have we ever wondered why ? It is said that when we pray or when we bless some one , we create some kind of positive vibration around. this explains why we feel relaxed when we enter temple with heavy heart.Words have vibration when coupled with feelings.and as said earlier our body is surrounded with energy field. and this positive or negative energy plays its part in affecting our energy body.ok now for those who don't accept things without any proof let me tell about an experiment conducted by Dr.Masaru Emoto of Japan.I just accidently read about this experiment and here is what i read about .

The Power Of Words Over Water

Can water be affected by our words? Dr. Masaru Emoto, a Japanese scientist, believes so. And he has proof.

Dr. Emoto took water droplets, exposed them to various words, music, and environments, and froze them for three hours. He then examined the crystal formations under a dark field microscope. And he took photographs.
The results were totally mind-blowing.
Heres a photo of ordinary water without any prayer spoken over it. The molecular structure is in disarray.

The photo below is water after the prayer was said. Its simply breathtaking. (I now have a great respect for praying before meals! More on this later.)

Dr. Emoto also exposed water to Heavy Metal music. Heres how it looks like. Looks sad if you ask me.

Heres water exposed to classical music and folk dance music.. Looks much better, right?

Next, Dr. Emoto stuck a piece of paper with these words: You make me sick. I will kill you. Heres how the frozen water droplets looks like under the microscope

Below is how water looked like with the words Love over it. The difference is amazing.

This is Polluted water

This is water from Lourdes, France. Utterly beautiful, right?

Wait A Minute

Arent You Made Up Of Water?

Yes! 72% of your body is made up of water.
Imagine how your words affect your own body.
When you say, Im a failure, or Im hopeless, or I wont get well, imagine how these words weaken your health.
Make a choice to say the best words out there. Say often, Im wonderful, and Im beautiful, and Im Gods child, and God has a great plan for my life!
Its not only water.
Dr. Emoto also experimented with cooked rice.
He placed one cup of cooked rice in two airtight jars. On one jar, he wrote, I love you, and on the other, You fool. Everyday for 30 days, Dr. Emoto would say these words to each jar of rice.
After 30 days, the I love you rice was still white. But the You fool rice was so rotten, it was black. How can you explain this?

And there are many many researches done by people to study about the power of prayer and have come out with many interesting proofs and result.i will provide them here in a short time. i hope this article was interesting and made you think and watch your words ( Ofcourse that will only do good).May the rest of your life be the best of your life.