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TOWARDS A MATHEMATICAL THEORY OFSPIRITUALITY BASED ON ADVAITA (PART-I)*
Raju Chidambaram, Ph.D
.
Alexandria, Virginia
ABSTRACT
Advaita Vedanta is a scientific theory of spirituality that clearly states both a very basic problem of life and its solution: the problem is a relentlessly changing world that brings suffering to its beings (jeevas) and the solution for the jeeva is to live an intelligent life spiritually detached from that world.The logical precision found in Advaita has greatly impressed both scientists and philosophers around the world for a long time. Claims to the scientific robustness of Advaita has been now further reinforced in this paper by showing how the principles of Advaita lend themselves to the development of a mathematical model describing the spiritual dimension of jeevas in a constantly changing world. The model adheres to the advaitic portrayal of the world as waves arising in the Total Mind and Ishwara as controlling the course of the world.The uncertainty inherent in Prakriti (i.e. nature) is an experienced fact of life and an established fact of modern physics. The model incorporates this uncertainty and the partnership of Ishwara and Prakriti working together to resolve the same. A basic feature of the model is the introduction of a single parameter representing the spiritual dimension of jeevas. Within this model representation we demonstrate in Part-1 of the paper a key assertion of Advaita: Jeevas which are spiritually detached from the world suffer less.
INTRODUCTION
Back in the summer of 1961, this author met Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, the thenVice-President of India, in his official New Delhi residence. Asked what he thought ofthe conflict between science and religion, the eminent Indian philosopher shook hishead and said “Don’t tell me tall stories!” as though to dismiss the question asmeaningless. Then he added something that made an immediate and indelibleimpression on me:
“A little bit of science will take you away from religion; but a little more of it will bring you right back to it”.
Relativity Physics and Quantum Physics which were introduced in the early 20
th
century did take science towards religion. Since then, many respectable scientistsand philosophers have noted the parallels between the new concepts in physics andthose in earlier spiritual traditions, notably
Advaita
Vedanta
. The conclusions ofthese comparative analyses are very reasonable assertions made by great mindswith deep interest in both science and spirituality, but rarely employ formalmathematical models of spirituality.In the present work, we attempt to introduce a measure of rigor in the analysesby opting for a geometric representation of cosmologic principles propounded by
Advaita Vedanta
. Simple analysis performed on this geometry allows demonstration
2
of the basic teaching of
Advaita
, as indeed of all religions, regarding the need forspiritual detachment to face peacefully the vicissitudes of life.The starting point for the geometric representation is a paradigm developed in anearlier paper by this author on the subject of uncertainty (Ref 1). We begin bypresenting this paradigm.
1. THE REALM OF THE EXPERIENCED O-E-T (World in Flux)
The world is defined as the ensemble of all things and beings in the cosmos andis denoted by the acronym O-E-T (for Objects-Emotions-Thoughts) following anotation popularized by Gurudev Swami Chinmayananda. Entities of the O-E-Tpossessing only gross body are defined as “things” while those with conscious Mindand Intellect are referred to as “beings” or
“jeevas
”. A description of the O-E-T at anygiven moment will include not only the physical state of all gross bodies, but also theemotional and intellectual state of all its beings. The description will also include anaccount of the
vasanas
(forces of change) active at that moment. The O-E-Tencompasses the
Virat
and
Hiranyagarbha
aspects of Totality. This world is inconstant flux and moves from one state to another under the forces of changeconstantly operating on it (Fig 1).
FIG 1
:
DYNAMICS OF THE CHANGING O-E-T
The position of a moving automobile at the next moment depends on where it isat the present moment and the direction, speed and acceleration it is subject to now.Similarly, where the world will be next moment depends on where it is at the presentmoment and the forces of change (their magnitude and directions) active now. In thissense, the present moment is the cause and the next moment its effect. Nextmoment is the cause for the (Next+1) moment and so on as indicated in Fig 1.Bound to O-E-T, all things and beings of the world are forced by
Prakriti
fromchange to change (cf Gita Ch. 3 v. 33 “
sadrsam cheshtathe swasyah prakrter jnaanavaanapi.. prakritim yaanthi bhoothani nigrahah kim karishyathi?”
) Consciousbeings or
jeevas
experience these changes.In order to fully appreciate Fig 1, a few important points must be noted. Some ofthese points are discussed in detail in the previously referenced paper onuncertainty:
cause-
effect cause-
effect cause-
effect cause-
effect cause---
WORLD
O----------------
O------------------
O---------------
O--------------
O--------
AT-->
First Next Next+1 Next+2 Next+3Moment Moment Moment Moment Moment
----
THE CAUSE- EFECT CHAIN OR THE REALM OF CHANGE
--
---- ------------
EXPERIENCED O-E-T / TIME AXIS
--------------
3
●
Cause does not change into effect (i.e. the present moment does notbecome the next moment) instantaneously, but takes time. Seed does not sproutinstantaneously into a seedling, even if the conditions are right. There appears to bean interval between cause and its immediate effect as represented in Fig 1. We mayview the cause-effect relation thus:
cause + interval of time = effect
We refer to this interval as one unit of “cosmic time”, or simply as time. In the mysticview, this is the interval between beats of Shiva’s cosmic drum, with each beatsignaling some change in the cosmos affecting gross things and the subtle mind ofbeings
1
.
●
Rate, or speed, of change is constant: i.e. the length of the interval betweentwo consecutive moments (that is any cause and its immediate effect) is the same,namely one unit of cosmic time. In other words, the present progresses to the futureat a constant rate. We need not specify how long the interval is; in fact it could beconsidered to be arbitrarily small so that the cause-effect chain is seen as acontinuous stream of changes.
●
To a being
(jeeva)
experiencing the cause-effect changes in the O-E-T, theinterval between one experience and the next is one unit of “experienced (i.e.subjective) time”. By definition, there is nothing to be experienced between twoconsecutive moments (i.e. during the transition from cause to effect). Thisrepresentation is similar to the metaphor of
raasa leela
often used by GurudevSwami Chinmayananda to explain the concept of time: each
gopi
represents a“thought”, and the interval between two consecutive thoughts is time. Between eachtwo consecutive thoughts is the silent mind or (unobservable)
Paramaatman
orKrishna.The paradigm suggests that time is born of changes. Time is not anindependent variable against which all changes are measured; rather it is thechanges that give rise to
time
2
.
In
Advaita
, the Changeless
Brahman
is alsoconsidered Timeless. In particular, experienced time is proportionate to the numberof changes experienced.
●
Vasanas
(which include all natural laws known to scientists affectingbehavior of matter and mind) are the causal forces behind the changes in O-E-Tfrom one moment to next. However,
vasanas
do not completely determine the futurecourse of the world. There is some uncertainty about the future state of the worldeven if we can know everything about its current state and all the forces that areacting on it at this moment. This is due to uncertainty inherent in
Prakriti
(nature.)
1
Physical clocks are devices that count the number of changes in some physical process subject toregular, periodic changes: for example, the pendulum clock counts the number of swings of thependulum. Since they are based on a specific physical process, clocks do not register all changes inthe cosmos, but only a periodic subset of these changes. On the other hand, the “cosmic clock” drivenby Shiva’s
damaru
captures all the changes in the cosmos. Hence its “clock speed” can be inferred tobe several orders of magnitude higher than that of any physical clock
.
2
Says Sri Ramana: “What is
time
? It posits a state, one’s recognition of it, and also the changes thataffect it. The interval between two states is called
time
.” (Page 454, Ref. 5
)
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