Prabhupada

Vedic Perspective : Dark Matter And The Garbhodaka Ocean

Remarkably, it turns out there is five times more material in clusters of galaxies than we would expect from the galaxies and hot gas we can see. Most of the stuff in clusters of galaxies is invisible and, since these are the largest structures in the Universe held together by gravity, scientists then conclude that most of the matter in the entire Universe is invisible. This invisible stuff is called 'Dark Matter', a term initially coined by Fritz Zwicky who discovered evidence for missing mass in galaxies in the 1930s. There is currently much ongoing research by scientists attempting to discover exactly what this dark matter is, how much there is, and what effect it may have on the future of the Universe as a whole.

Vedic Perspective

Srimad-Bhagavatam 2.7.1  Scheduled Incarnations with Specific Functions

 Lord Brahma said: When the unlimitedly powerful Lord assumed the form of a boar as a pastime, just to lift the planet earth, which was drowned in the great ocean of the universe called the Garbhodaka, the first demon [Hiranyaksa] appeared, and the Lord pierced him with His tusk.

                             PURPORT

   Since the beginning of creation, the demons and the demigods, or the Vaisnavas, are always the two classes of living beings to dominate the planets of the universes. Lord Brahma is the first demigod, and Hiranyaksa is the first demon in this universe. Only under certain conditions do the planets float as weightless balls in the air, and as soon as these conditions are disturbed, the planets may fall down in the Garbhodaka Ocean, which covers half the universe. The other half is the spherical dome within which the innumerable planetary systems exist. The floating of the planets in the weightless air is due to the inner constitution of the globes, and the modernized drilling of the earth to exploit oil from within is a sort of disturbance by the modern demons and can result in a greatly harmful reaction to the floating condition of the earth. A similar disturbance was created formerly by the demons headed by Hiranyaksa (the great exploiter of the gold rush), and the earth was detached from its weightless condition and fell down into the Garbhodaka Ocean.

The Lord, as maintainer of the whole creation of the material world, therefore assumed the gigantic form of a boar with a proportionate snout and picked up the earth from within the water of Garbhodaka. Sri Jayadeva Gosvami, the great Vaisnava poet, sang as follows:

             vasati dasana-sikhare dharani tava lagna
                  sasini kalanka-kaleva nimagna
                     kesava dhrta-sukara-rupa
                        jaya jagadisa hare

   "O Kesava! O Supreme Lord who have assumed the form of a boar! O Lord! The planet earth rested on Your tusks, and it appeared like the moon engraved with spots."
   Such is the symptom of an incarnation of the Lord. The incarnation of the Lord is not the concocted idea of fanciful men who create an incarnation out of imagination. The incarnation of the Lord appears under certain extraordinary circumstances like the above-mentioned occasion, and the incarnation performs a task which is not even imaginable by the tiny brain of mankind. The modern creators of the many cheap incarnations may take note of the factual incarnation of God as the gigantic boar with a suitable snout to carry the planet earth.
   When the Lord appeared to pick up the earth, the demon of the name Hiranyaksa tried to create a disturbance in the methodical functions of the Lord, and therefore he was killed by being pierced by the Lord's tusk. According to Srila Jiva Gosvami, the demon Hiranyaksa was killed by the hand of the Lord. Therefore his version is that after being killed by the hand of the Lord, the demon was pierced by the tusk. Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura confirms this version.

 

Vedic Perspective : The God Particle

Scientists at the massive Large Hadron Collider under the Swiss Alps have easily replicated the innovative mini-Big Bang results of a previous experiment which created the ‘primordial soup’ of the just-born universe.

Super-hot ‘quark-gluon plasma’ is believed to have existed just nano-seconds after the Big Bang, and to have formed the stuff of galaxies, planets, suns, and all life forms. Such new data on the birth of the universe is pouring in from the experiments, leading physicists to consider extending the current phase of the project for two more years.

The new results took only days of colliding lead ions in the massive machine at ultra-high energies, and produced temperatures 500,000 times higher than in the sun’s core. The resultant mini-Big Bangs were even more intense than those caused using hydrogen protons during the Collider’s first seven months of operation.

The planned two-year extension could result in earlier discovery of the Higgs Boson particle believed to be the stimulus which changed the initial fabric of the universe, an amorphous mass of particles, into solid matter.

According to CERN Director General Rolf Heuer, scientists working on the project want to maintain the momentum of the new discoveries, as everything previously understood has now been confirmed and new territories are waiting to be explored. The ‘known unknowns’ are coming into view, and the as yet unimaginable lies beyond.

The Large Hadron Collider is at present being shut down for its regular winter maintenance schedule and experiments will recommence in February next year.

Vedic Perspective

Srimad-Bhagavatam 5.5.26 P  Lord Rsabhadeva' s Teachings to His Sons

My dear sons, you should not envy any living entity--be he moving or nonmoving. Knowing that I am situated in them, you should offer respect to all of them at every moment. In this way, you offer respect to Me.

                             PURPORT

   In this verse the word vivikta-drgbhih, meaning without envy. is used. All living entities are the abode of the Supreme Personality of Godhead in His Paramatma feature. As confirmed in Brahma-samhita: andantara-stham paramanu-cayantara-stham. The Lord is situated in this universe as Garbhodakasayi Visnu and Ksirodakasayi Visnu. He is also situated within every atom. According to the Vedic statement: isavasyam idam sarvam. The Supreme Lord is situated everywhere, and wherever He is situated is His temple. We even offer respects to a temple from a distant place, and all living entities should similarly be offered respect. This is different from the theory of pantheism, which holds that everything is God. Everything has a relationship with God because God is situated everywhere. We should not make any particular distinction between the poor and the rich like the foolish worshipers of daridra-narayana. Narayana is present in the rich as well as the poor. One should not simply think Narayana is situated among the poor. He is everywhere. An advanced devotee will offer respects to everyone--even to cats and dogs.

Vedic Perspective : The Electric Sun

Are stars powered from within, or does the power come from elsewhere? This was the question asked by Sir Arthur Eddington in the 1920s. He settled for the former, and this laid the foundation for current mainstream models. Ralph Juergens asked the question again in the 1970s, and opted for the latter. According to Juergens, stars shine because they are connected to electric circuitry within galaxies. An electric star's brightness thus depends on the power of the electric current feeding it, not on the amount of nuclear fuel available to burn.

  Stars thus behave as electrodes in a galactic glow discharge. The many surface phenomena that can be seen on the Sun -- hot corona, sunspots, prominences, flares, et al -- can all be explained by an electric Sun, but are more difficult to understand from a nuclear point of view. Nuclear reactions take place on the surface, not in the core, perhaps explaining why neutrino numbers vary with sunspot cycles, and these reactions are almost certainly produced in the same way that we produce them in the lab -- by accelerating particles in an electric field.

Stars, galaxies, nebulae, and planets are all affected by electric currents in the plasma through which they move. If the appearance of a star is determined largely by its electrical environment, it follows that it can change relatively quickly!

Vedic Perspective

Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.15.2       Description of the Kingdom of God

 By the force of the pregnancy of Diti, the light of the sun and moon was impaired in all the planets, and the demigods of various planets, being disturbed by that force, asked the creator of the universe, Brahma, "What is this expansion of darkness in all directions?"

                             PURPORT

   It appears from this verse of Srimad-Bhagavatam that the sun is the source of light for all the planets in the universe. The modern scientific theory which states that there are many suns in each universe is not supported by this verse. It is understood that in each universe there is only one sun, which supplies light to all the planets. In Bhagavad-gita the moon is also stated to be one of the stars. There are many stars, and when we see them glittering at night we can understand that they are reflectors of light; just as moonlight is a reflection of sunlight, other planets also reflect sunlight, and there are many other planets which cannot be seen by our naked eyes. The demoniac influence of the sons in the womb of Diti expanded darkness throughout the universe.

Vedic Perspective : Dark Matter and the Universal Coverings

Scientists using different methods to determine the mass of galaxies have found a discrepancy that suggests ninety percent of the universe is matter in a form that cannot be seen. Some scientists think dark matter is in the form of massive objects, such as black holes, that hang out around galaxies unseen. Other scientists believe dark matter to be subatomic particles that rarely interact with ordinary matter. This paper is a review of current literature. I look at how scientists have determined the mass discrepancy, what they think dark matter is and how they are looking for it, and how dark matter fits into current theories about the origin and the fate of the universe.

  

  

  

 

 

 

 

Vedic Perspective

Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.26.52 P Fundamental Principles of Material Nature

This universal egg, or the universe in the shape of an egg, is called the manifestation of material energy. Its layers of water, air, fire, sky, ego and mahat-tattva increase in thickness one after another. Each layer is ten times bigger than the previous one, and the final outside layer is covered by pradhana. Within this egg is the universal form of Lord Hari, of whose body the fourteen planetary systems are parts.

                             PURPORT

   This universe, or the universal sky which we can visualize with its innumerable planets, is shaped just like an egg. As an egg is covered by a shell, the universe is also covered by various layers. The first layer is water, the next is fire, then air, then sky, and the ultimate holding crust is pradhana. Within this egglike universe is the universal form of the Lord as the virat-purusa. All the different planetary situations are parts of His body. This is already explained in the beginning of Srimad-Bhagavatam, Second Canto. The planetary systems are considered to form different bodily parts of that universal form of the Lord. Persons who cannot directly engage in the worship of the transcendental form of the Lord are advised to think of and worship this universal form. The lowest planetary system, Patala, is considered to be the sole of the Supreme Lord, and the earth is considered to be the belly of the Lord. Brahmaloka, or the highest planetary system, where Brahma lives, is considered to be the head of the Lord.
   This virat-purusa is considered an incarnation of the Lord. The original form of the Lord is Krsna, as confirmed in Brahma-samhita: adi-purusa. The virat-purusa is also purusa, but He is not adi-purusa. The adi-purusa is Krsna. Isvarah paramah krsnah sac-cid-ananda-vigrahah. anadir adir govindah. In Bhagavad-gita Krsna is also accepted as the adi-purusa, the original. Krsna says, "No one is greater than I." There are innumerable expansions of the Lord, and all of them are purusas, or enjoyers, but neither the virat-purusa nor the purusa-avataras--Karanodakasayi Visnu, Garbhodakasayi Visnu and Ksirodakasayi Visnu--nor any of the many other expansions, is the original. In each universe there are Garbhodakasayi Visnu, the virat-purusa and Ksirodakasayi Visnu. The active manifestation of the virat-purusa is described here. Persons who are in the lower grade of understanding regarding the Supreme Personality of Godhead may think of the universal form of the Lord, for that is advised in the Bhagavatam.
   The dimensions of the universe are estimated here. The outer covering is made of layers of water, air, fire, sky, ego and mahat-tattva, and each layer is ten times greater than the one previous. The space within the hollow of the universe cannot be measured by any human scientist or anyone else, and beyond the hollow there are seven coverings, each one ten times greater than the one preceding it. The layer of water is ten times greater than the diameter of the universe, and the layer of fire is ten times greater than that of water. Similarly, the layer of air is ten times greater than that of fire. These dimensions are all inconceivable to the tiny brain of a human being.
   It is also stated that this description is of only one egglike universe. There are innumerable universes besides this one, and some of them are many, many times greater. It is considered, in fact, that this universe is the smallest; therefore the predominating superintendent, or Brahma, has only four heads for management. In other universes, which are far greater than this one, Brahma has more heads. In the Caitanya-caritamrta it is stated that all these Brahmas were called one day by Lord Krsna on the inquiry of the small Brahma, who, after seeing all the larger Brahmas, was thunderstruck. That is the inconceivable potency of the Lord. No one can measure the length and breadth of God by speculation or by false identification with God. These attempts are symptoms of lunacy.

Vedic Perspective : String Theory

Think of a guitar string that has been tuned by stretching the string under tension across the guitar. Depending on how the string is plucked and how much tension is in the string, different musical notes will be created by the string. These musical notes could be said to be excitation modes of that guitar string under tension.
 In a similar manner, in string theory, the elementary particles we observe in particle accelerators could be thought of as the "musical notes" or excitation modes of elementary strings.
In string theory, as in guitar playing, the string must be stretched under tension in order to become excited. However, the strings in string theory are floating in spacetime, they aren't tied down to a guitar. Nonetheless, they have tension. The string tension in string theory is denoted by the quantity 1/(2 p a'), where a' is pronounced "alpha prime"and is equal to the square of the string length scale.
If string theory is to be a theory of quantum gravity, then the average size of a string should be somewhere near the length scale of quantum gravity, called the Planck length, which is about 10^-33 centimeters, or about a millionth of a billionth of a billionth of a billionth of a centimeter. Unfortunately, this means that strings are way too small to see by current or expected particle physics technology (or financing!!) and so string theorists must devise more clever methods to test the theory than just looking for little strings in particle experiments.
String theories are classified according to whether or not the strings are required to be closed loops, and whether or not the particle spectrum includes fermions. In order to include fermions in string theory, there must be a special kind of symmetry called supersymmetry, which means for every boson (particle that transmits a force) there is a corresponding fermion (particle that makes up matter). So supersymmetry relates the particles that transmit forces to the particles that make up matter.
Supersymmetric partners to to currently known particles have not been observed in particle experiments, but theorists believe this is because supersymmetric particles are too massive to be detected at current accelerators. Particle accelerators could be on the verge of finding evidence for high energy supersymmetry in the next decade. Evidence for supersymmetry at high energy would be compelling evidence that string theory was a good mathematical model for Nature at the smallest distance scales.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vedic Perspective

Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.26.32 P Fundamental Principles of Material Nature

When egoism in ignorance is agitated by the sex energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the subtle element sound is manifested, and from sound come the ethereal sky and the sense of hearing.

                             PURPORT

   It appears from this verse that all the objects of our sense gratification are the products of egoism in ignorance. It is understood from this verse that by agitation of the element of egoism in ignorance, the first thing produced was sound, which is the subtle form of ether. It is stated also in the Vedanta-sutra that sound is the origin of all objects of material possession and that by sound one can also dissolve this material existence. Anavrttih sabdat means "liberation by sound." The entire material manifestation began from sound, and sound can also end material entanglement, if it has a particular potency. The particular sound capable of doing this is the transcendental vibration Hare Krsna. Our entanglement in material affairs has begun from material sound. Now we must purify that sound in spiritual understanding. There is sound in the spiritual world also. If we approach that sound, then our spiritual life begins, and the other requirements for spiritual advancement can be supplied. We have to understand very clearly that sound is the beginning of the creation of all material objects for our sense gratification. Similarly, if sound is purified, our spiritual necessities also are produced from sound.
   Here it is said that from sound the ether became manifested and that the air became manifested from ether. How the ethereal sky comes from sound, how the air comes from sky and how fire comes from air will be explained later on. Sound is the cause of the sky, and sky is the cause of srotram, the ear. The ear is the first sense for receiving knowledge. One must give aural reception to any knowledge one wants to receive, either material or spiritual. Therefore srotram is very important. The Vedic knowledge is called sruti; knowledge has to be received by hearing. By hearing only can we have access to either material or spiritual enjoyment.
   In the material world, we manufacture many things for our material comfort simply by hearing. They are already there, but just by hearing, one can transform them. If we want to build a very high skyscraper, this does not mean that we have to create it. The materials for the skyscraper--wood, metal, earth, etc.--are already there, but we make our intimate relationship with those already created material elements by hearing how to utilize them. Modern economic advancement for creation is also a product of hearing, and similarly one can create a favorable field of spiritual activities by hearing from the right source. Arjuna was a gross materialist in the bodily conception of life and was suffering from the bodily concept very acutely. But simply by hearing, Arjuna became a spiritualized, Krsna conscious person. Hearing is very important, and that hearing is produced from the sky. By hearing only can we make proper use of that which already exists. The principle of hearing to properly utilize preconceived materials is applicable to spiritual paraphernalia as well. We must hear from the proper spiritual source.

Universe could be football (soccerball) shaped

Finite cosmos may be smaller than we think. 9 October 2003 JOHN WHITFIELD The Universe could be shaped like a soccer ball, say mathematicians 1. The idea is prompted by data from NASA's Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) satellite. This sees back to when the Universe was about 380,000 years old, and reveals the all-pervading radiation left over from the Big Bang - the cosmic microwave background. There are fluctuations in this background, like waves in the sea. They are the legacy of the small lumps in the early Universe that gave rise to stars and galaxies. An infinite Universe would contain waves of all sizes. The WMAP did not see any very large waves. This points to space being finite - for the same reasons that you don't see breakers in your bathtub. The best explanation for these observations is that the cosmos is a Poincaré dodecahedral space, says a team led by Jeffrey Weeks, an independent mathematician based in Canton, New York. Mathematical models of a spherical, solid Universe edged by 12 curved pentagons produce the patterns seen in the background radiation without any special fine-tuning. "It fits the data surprisingly well," says Weeks. The dodecahedron is "a nice solution", agrees cosmologist Janna Levin of the University of Cambridge, UK. But other geometries could produce similar patterns in the microwave background, she warns. "It's going to be a surprise if the Universe has chosen such a beautiful platonic form," she says. "And I'd be surprised if the Universe was so small." Most physicists assume that the Universe is infinite, explains Levin. But Einstein's theories actually say nothing about whether the Universe stops or not. Bouncing back A journey of 60 billion light years across a dodecahedral Universe would bring you right back to Earth. Like a circumnavigation of the globe, it would be a seamless ride: there would be no obvious point at which one 're-entered' the Universe. The most distant objects would be visible in opposite directions, although they would be seen at different ages. Trying to spot the same galaxy in two different places "would be like trying to recognize the same person viewed at age 50 face-on, and at the age of 7 from the top of their head, in a crowd of billions," says Weeks. There's a better chance that we might be able to recognize repetitive patterns in the microwave background. If background radiation had travelled far enough to meet itself, it would create circular patterns, like intersecting ripples on a pond. Astrophysicist Neil Cornish, of Montana State University in Bozeman, is one of a team that is looking for these circles. The researchers will present their latest results at a cosmology conference beginning on Friday in Cleveland, Ohio. So far, their search has drawn a blank. "There is a little room left for the small-Universe idea, but not much," Cornish says. Weeks remains optimistic, however. He thinks that the telltale circles might be hiding in parts of the WMAP data that have yet to be analysed.

References Luminet, J.-P. et al. Dodecahedral space topology as an explanation for weak wide-angle temperature in the cosmic microwave background. Nature, 425, 593 - 595, doi:10.1038/nature01944 (2003). |Article|

 

Vedic Perspective

Srimad Bhagavatam 2.5.33 P           The Cause of All Causes
                             TEXT 33

                               TEXT

                     tada samhatya canyonyam
                     bhagavac-chakti-coditah
                       sad-asattvam upadaya
                     cobhayam sasrjur hy adah

                             SYNONYMS

   tada--all those; samhatya--being assembled; ca--also; anyonyam--one another; bhagavat--by the Personality of Godhead; sakti--energy; coditah--being applied; sat-asattvam--primarily and secondarily; upadaya--accepting; ca--also; ubhayam--both; sasrjuh--came into existence; hi--certainly; adah--this universe.

                           TRANSLATION

   Thus when all these became assembled by force of the energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, this universe certainly came into being by accepting both the primary and secondary causes of creation.

                             PURPORT

   In this verse it is clearly mentioned that the Supreme Personality of Godhead exerts His different energies in the creation; it is not that He Himself is transformed into material creations. He expands Himself by His different energies, as well as by His plenary portions. In a corner of the spiritual sky of brahmajyoti a spiritual cloud sometimes appears, and the covered portion is called the mahat-tattva. The Lord then, by His plenary portion as Maha-Visnu, lies down within the water of the mahat-tattva, and the water is called the Causal Ocean (Karana-jala). While Maha-Visnu sleeps within the Causal Ocean, innumerable universes are generated along with His breathing. These universes are floating, and they are scattered all over the Causal Ocean. They stay only during the breathing period of Maha-Visnu. In each and every universal globe, the same Maha-Visnu enters again as Garbhodakasayi Visnu and lies there on the serpentlike Sesa incarnation. From His navel sprouts a lotus stem, and on the lotus, Brahma, the lord of the universe, is born. Brahma creates all forms of living beings of different shapes in terms of different desires within the universe. He also creates the sun, moon and other demigods.
   Therefore the chief engineer of the material creation is the Lord Himself, as confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita (9.10). It is He only who directs the material nature to produce all sorts of moving and nonmoving creations.
   There are two modes of material creation: the creation of the collective universes, as stated above, done by the Maha-Visnu, and the creation of the single universe. Both are done by the Lord, and thus the universal shape, as we can see, takes place.

What is String Theory?

String Theory, sometimes called the Theory of Everything, is thought by some to be the unifying field theory Einstein sought before his death. String theory is the first mathematically sound theory that reconciles the world of the infinitesimally small, with the world we know at large. It unites Einstein’s Theory of Relativity with quantum physics and offers a potential explanation for the Big Bang.
Prior to string theory, subatomic particles were envisioned as tiny balls or points of energy. String theory works on the premise that the tiniest subatomic bits that make up the elements of atoms actually behave like vibrating strings. The strings of string theory are so small that physicist Brian Greene has analogized that if a single atom were enlarged to occupy the footprint of our solar system, a string would still be no larger than a tree.
Because these tiny vibrating strings are responsible for the properties of all matter, the cosmos has been likened to a cosmic symphony of superstrings. While poetically appealing, the strength of string theory is that it accounts for all four known forces in one elegant theory. These fundamental forces are gravity; the strong and weak nuclear forces; and electromagnetism.
One of the surprising elements of string theory is that it requires extra dimensions to be free of mathematical anomalies. Scientists added an extra six dimensions, initially, for a total of ten. The six dimensions were predicted to be contained in tiny curled up formations at every point within our three-dimensional space.
But there was a problem: string theorists came up with several theories that all seemed to be correct. Ultimately scientists found that adding an eleventh dimension mathematically explained all of the seemingly different string theories as different aspects of the same theory. The one theory to rule them all is known as M-theory.
The eleventh dimension of string theory predicts a new kind of string, stretched infinitely long to create what is termed a floating membrane, or brane. According to string theory, infinite branes exist that each supports a separate but parallel universe. In this wildly exotic neighborhood the “problematic” force of gravity was also explained.
While the Standard Model of physics had already united three of the known forces, gravity remained elusive. Part of the problem was that gravity was such a weak force relative to the others. String theory mathematically predicts that gravity is weak because it is only leaking here from a parallel universe. How is this possible?
String theorists explain that strings can be open or closed. Open-ended strings have one endpoint attached to the brane on which they reside, keeping matter contained within that brane. Our bodies are believed to be made from open-ended strings. This explains why we can’t reach into or interact with other dimensions. Close-ended strings, however, are like tiny rings, unattached to their brane, able to “leak” away from it; which brings us to gravity.
Gravity is thought to be transferred via massless, hypothetical particles called gravitons. If gravitons were made from close-ended strings, scientists theorized, gravity might be leaking off our brane. It sounded good but it didn’t work mathematically. However, the opposite hypothetical did work. Gravity appears, according to string theory, to be leaking to our brane from a parallel universe. Fantastically, this notion is mathematically sound.
Finally, string theory offers a possible explanation for the Big Bang. It had long bothered scientists that although they could plot the stages of the Big Bang backwards to the singularity, the initial cause for the event was without explanation. Now string theorists believe that two branes colliding could have caused the Big Bang event.
String theory’s biggest challenge is that much of it is not provable. Scientists can’t test other dimensions, study migrating gravitons, or peek between the curtains of floating branes to witness a Big Bang event. For this reason string theory has many detractors and critics. Some scientists believe that without the ability to prove the theory, it is not true science at all. Nevertheless, proponents of string theory seem confident that proof of various sorts will come with technological progress and time. As many string theorists have quipped, "Something this elegant can’t be wrong!"

Vedic Perspective

Prabhupada Letter to Hamsaduta  
Regarding your question: you are right when you write to say that everything about us, tables, chairs, bricks etc. is originally emanating from sound vibration. This is also admitted in the Christian Bible wherein it is said that God said, Let there be creation. And there was creation. So, "said" means it was sound vibration; but this sound vibration is not material sound vibration because before creation of material sky and sound, transcendental sound was there. So actually the transcendental sound is the cause of creation, but material sound is not transcendental sound. We have to receive transcendental sound through the transcendental channel, therefore, Vedas are called Sruti. That means transcendental sound can be received through the ear. And by hearing this transcendental sound through the ear our heart becomes spiritually purified, and we can realize at that stage the transcendental Name, transcendental Qualities, transcendental Form, transcendental Pastimes etc. That is the way of descending process.
   Because everything manifested is creation of the original transcendental Sound, therefore, factually everything is spiritual. But being covered by material cloud, we do not appreciate properly the spiritual nature of everything. The Krishna Consciousness Movement means gradually advancing towards that stage of spiritual realization. As such, the philosophy of acintya bhedabheda tattva is perfect. Everything is simultaneously one and different from the Supreme. One in quality because the original source is the Spiritual Whole, and different in quantity. This quantitative difference becomes more and more separate by increase of material consciousness.

Puzzles and paradoxes: University of Chicago lecture series unravels string theory

by Sarah K. Norris
April 09, 2009

String theory — the idea that all matter in the universe is composed of tiny, vibrating strings — may seem completely beyond the comprehension of all but the most advanced physicists.

But Nelia Mann, a post doctoral student at the University of Chicago, will bring her complicated area of study to the public through the Arthur H. Compton Lecture series, beginning on Friday.

“I think people like to try to wrap their brains around puzzles and paradoxes and confusing things," Mann, a McCormick fellow and researcher at the university, said. “It pleases the brain.”

She will deliver the first in a series of nine lectures on the topic of particle physics  at 11 a.m. Saturday. The lectures are given in conjunction with the Enrico Fermi Institute and have been ongoing since 1976, when they were conceived by former director John Simpson.

“The main idea of the lectures is to provide a glimpse of what we do here in the Institute for a more general audience,” Simon Swordy, the institute’s current director, said. “You have somebody giving a view of what the essence of the activity or the field is and there’s always lots of questions for the speakers.”

The lectures, which will be given at the Kersten Physics Teaching Center, 5720 S. Ellis Ave., help the institute fulfill a responsibility to the public, according to Swordy. “We sit here getting money from the government to think about very esoteric things,” he said.  “I mean, the least we can do is explain to people what it is we think we’re finding out.”

What Mann is finding out — or hoping to find out — is what she calls “ a question of the ultimate fundamental reality.”

Trying to understand this reality is what draws non-scientists to the subject of string theory, in addition to its inherent strangeness, Mann said.

“Some of it is weird and people are attracted to things that are weird and sound crazy,” she said. “You know there’s the Star Trek effect — where space is warping.”

Mann’s first three lectures will begin with the basics of 20th century physics, discussing the theories of physicist Albert Einstein and the basics of quantum mechanics — the behavior of tiny, subatomic particles like electrons.

“The middle three lectures are going to be creating the standard model, sort of the core of successful 20th century physics,” Mann said. In the last lecture of this set and the sixth lecture overall, Mann will discuss spontaneous symmetry breaking in particle physics, the area of study that won Fermi Professor Emeritus Yochiro Nambu, Nobel Prize in Physics last year.

The final three lectures in the series will explore the more speculative areas of particle physics, including Mann’s own work with string theory, a theory which tries to explain the smallest particle which composes all matter.

“Most particle physics through the 20th century assumed that the most fundamental objects were points — like an electron was a point in space, a zero dimensional object,” Mann said.

String theory counters this zero dimensional idea by assuming that the fundamental objects of matter are actually one dimensional — more like little strings than points in space.

“It’s a another way of getting at patterns,” Mann said.

As complicated as Mann’s area of study seems, Swordy says part of the point of the Compton Lectures is to push the boundaries of science understanding, both for the lecturer and the audience.

“Science is about trying to understand things but almost as important is trying to find out where you stop understanding things,” he said.

The ultimate goal of the lectures is to bring together the research frontiers of the Fermi Institute with the interests of the curious public.

“I think they get a very good explanation from the front line of what is going on in scientific research,” Swordy said.  “Much better than you  get from watching TV or reading scientific magazines.”

Vedic Perspective

Srimad Bhagavatam 3.26.32 Purport by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami 

Fundamental Principles of Material Nature  

It appears from this verse that all the objects of our sense gratification are the products of egoism in ignorance. It is understood from this verse that by agitation of the element of egoism in ignorance, the first thing produced was sound, which is the subtle form of ether. It is stated also in the Vedanta-sutra that sound is the origin of all objects of material possession and that by sound one can also dissolve this material existence. Anavrttih sabdat means "liberation by sound." The entire material manifestation began from sound, and sound can also end material entanglement, if it has a particular potency. The particular sound capable of doing this is the transcendental vibration Hare Krsna. Our entanglement in material affairs has begun from material sound. Now we must purify that sound in spiritual understanding. There is sound in the spiritual world also. If we approach that sound, then our spiritual life begins, and the other requirements for spiritual advancement can be supplied. We have to understand very clearly that sound is the beginning of the creation of all material objects for our sense gratification. Similarly, if sound is purified, our spiritual necessities also are produced from sound.
   Here it is said that from sound the ether became manifested and that the air became manifested from ether. How the ethereal sky comes from sound, how the air comes from sky and how fire comes from air will be explained later on. Sound is the cause of the sky, and sky is the cause of srotram, the ear. The ear is the first sense for receiving knowledge. One must give aural reception to any knowledge one wants to receive, either material or spiritual. Therefore srotram is very important. The Vedic knowledge is called sruti; knowledge has to be received by hearing. By hearing only can we have access to either material or spiritual enjoyment.
   In the material world, we manufacture many things for our material comfort simply by hearing. They are already there, but just by hearing, one can transform them. If we want to build a very high skyscraper, this does not mean that we have to create it. The materials for the skyscraper--wood, metal, earth, etc.--are already there, but we make our intimate relationship with those already created material elements by hearing how to utilize them. Modern economic advancement for creation is also a product of hearing, and similarly one can create a favorable field of spiritual activities by hearing from the right source. Arjuna was a gross materialist in the bodily conception of life and was suffering from the bodily concept very acutely. But simply by hearing, Arjuna became a spiritualized, Krsna conscious person. Hearing is very important, and that hearing is produced from the sky. By hearing only can we make proper use of that which already exists. The principle of hearing to properly utilize preconceived materials is applicable to spiritual paraphernalia as well. We must hear from the proper spiritual source.

Solar System

Solar System



Solar System, the Sun and everything that orbits the Sun, including the planets and their satellites; the dwarf planets, asteroids, Kuiper Belt Objects, and comets; and interplanetary dust and gas. The term may also refer to a group of celestial bodies orbiting another star

The dimensions of the solar system are specified in terms of the mean distance from Earth to the Sun, called the astronomical unit (AU). One AU is 150 million km
Estimates for the boundary where the Sun’s magnetic field ends and interstellar space begins—called the heliopause—range from 86 to 100 AU from the Sun
The most distant known body orbiting the Sun is the dwarf planet Eris, whose discovery was reported in July 2005. Eris is currently about 97 AU from the Sun. Another planetlike object in the outer solar system named Sedna is currently at 90 AU
but will reach about 900 AU at the farthest point in its orbit thousands of years from now. Comets known as long-period comets, however, achieve the greatest distance from the Sun; they have highly eccentric orbits ranging out to 50,000 AU or more. (A comet’s period is how long it takes it to complete one revolution about the Sun.) They are members of the Oort cloud, a spherical ****l of comet nuclei that surrounds the flat plane of planetary orbits at this enormous distance

The solar system was the only planetary system known to exist around a star similar to the Sun until 1995, when astronomers discovered a planet about 0.6 times the mass of Jupiter orbiting the star 51 Pegasi. Jupiter is the most massive planet in our solar system. Soon after, astronomers found a planet about 8.1 times the mass of Jupiter orbiting the star 70 Virginis, and a planet about 3.5 times the mass of Jupiter orbiting the star 47 Ursa Majoris. Since then, astronomers have found planets and disks of dust in the process of forming planets around many other stars. Most astronomers think it likely that solar systems of some sort are numerous throughout the universe


THE MAJOR PLANETS


Eight major or classical planets are currently recognized by the International Astronomical Union (IAU), the body that gives official names to objects in the solar system. The planets are commonly divided into two groups: the inner planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars) and the outer planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune). The inner planets are small and are composed primarily of rock and iron. The outer planets are much larger and consist mainly of hydrogen, helium, and ice



Pluto, historically counted as the ninth planet, does not belong to either group, and was reclassified as a dwarf planet by the IAU in 2006. Some astronomers have objected to the reclassification of Pluto and the new IAU definition of a planet. Others feel strongly that classifying Pluto as one of the largest members of a family of similar icy bodies orbiting the Sun beyond Neptune provides a much better explanation of Pluto’s existence

The IAU has defined a classical planet as a body that orbits the Sun, that has a rounded shape from the effects of its own gravity, and that is the dominant object in its region of space and has cleared the neighborhood of its orbit of other objects. A dwarf planet is also a rounded body orbiting the Sun—but one that is not massive enough to have cleared its region of space of other objects

Mercury is surprisingly dense, apparently because it has an unusually large iron core. With only a transient atmosphere, Mercury has a surface that still bears the record of bombardment by asteroidal bodies early in its history



Venus has a carbon dioxide atmosphere 90 times thicker than that of Earth, causing an efficient greenhouse effect by which the Venusian atmosphere is heated. The resulting surface temperature is the hottest of any planet—about 477°C



Earth is the only planet known to have abundant liquid water and life. However, in 2004 astronomers with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Mars Exploration Rover mission confirmed that Mars once had liquid water on its surface. Scientists had previously concluded that liquid water once existed on Mars due to the numerous surface features on the planet that resemble water erosion found on Earth



Mars’s carbon dioxide atmosphere is now so thin that the planet is dry and cold, with polar caps of frozen water and solid carbon dioxide, or dry ice. However, small jets of subcrustal water may still erupt on the surface in some places



Jupiter is the largest of the planets. Its hydrogen and helium atmosphere contains pastel-colored clouds, and its immense magnetosphere, rings, and satellites make it a planetary system unto itself. One of Jupiter’s largest moons, Io, has volcanoes that produce the hottest surface temperatures in the solar system. At least four of Jupiter’s moons have atmospheres, and at least three may contain liquid or partially frozen water. Jupiter’s moon Europa may have a global ocean of liquid water beneath its icy crust



Saturn rivals Jupiter, with a much more intricate ring structure and a similar number of satellites. One of Saturn’s moons, Titan, has an atmosphere thicker than that of any other satellite in the solar system. Another moon of Saturn, Enceladus, has liquid-water geysers



Uranus and Neptune are deficient in hydrogen compared with Jupiter and Saturn; Uranus, also ringed, has the distinction of rotating at 98° to the plane of its orbit



OTHER ORBITING BODIES

Three dwarf planets are currently recognized by the IAU: Pluto, Eris, and Ceres. Astronomers may designate more dwarf planets in the near future. Pluto and Eris are dwarf planets according to the IAU because they have rounded shapes from their own gravity but have not cleared their neighborhoods in space of other objects—both orbit through the Kuiper Belt, a region beyond Neptune containing thousands of small icy bodies. Pluto and Eris are composed of layers of ice around a rocky core. Ceres qualifies as a dwarf planet because it is spherical but is found in the asteroid belt, a zone between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter that contains thousands of small rocky bodies. Ceres is likely made up of a rocky core surrounded by a mantle containing a mix of rock and ice. Like asteroids, dwarf planets are listed by the IAU as minor planets with numbers and names

 

Vedic Perspective

Srimad Bhagavatam 5.23.3        The Sisumara Planetary Systems
                              TEXT 3

                               TEXT

yatha medhistambha akramana-pasavah samyojitas tribhis tribhih savanair yatha-sthanam mandalani caranty evam bhagana grahadaya etasminn antar-bahir-yogena kala-cakra ayojita dhruvam evavalambya vayunodiryamana akalpantam parican kramanti nabhasi yatha meghah syenadayo vayu-vasah karma-sarathayah parivartante evam jyotirganah prakrti-purusa-samyoganugrhitah karma-nirmita-gatayo bhuvi na patanti.

                             SYNONYMS

   yatha--exactly like; medhistambhe--to the pivot post; akramana-pasavah--bulls for threshing rice; samyojitah--being yoked; tribhih tribhih--by three; savanaih--movements; yatha-sthanam--in their proper places; mandalani--orbits; caranti--traverse; evam--in the same way; bha-ganah--the luminaries, like the sun, the moon, Venus, Mercury, Mars and Jupiter; graha-adayah--the different planets; etasmin--in this; antah-bahih-yogena--by connection with the inner or outer circles; kala-cakre--in the wheel of eternal time; ayojitah--fixed; dhruvam--Dhruvaloka; eva--certainly; avalambya--taking support of; vayuna--by the wind; udiryamanah--being propelled; a-kalpa-antam--until the end of the creation; parican kramanti--revolve all around; nabhasi--in the sky; yatha--exactly like; meghah--heavy clouds; syena-adayah--birds such as the big eagle; vayu-vasah--controlled by the air; karma-sarathayah--whose chariot drivers are the results of their own past activities; parivartante--move around; evam--in this way; jyotih-ganah--the luminaries, the planets and stars in the sky; prakrti--of material nature; purusa--and of the Supreme Personality, Krsna; samyoga-anugrhitah--supported by the combined efforts; karma-nirmita--caused by their own past fruitive activities; gatayah--whose movements; bhuvi--on the ground; na--not; patanti--fall down.

                           TRANSLATION

   When bulls are yoked together and tied to a central post to thresh rice, they tread around that pivot without deviating from their proper positions--one bull being closest to the post, another in the middle, and a third on the outside. Similarly, all the planets and all the hundreds and thousands of stars revolve around the polestar, the planet of Maharaja Dhruva, in their respective orbits, some higher and some lower. Fastened by the Supreme Personality of Godhead to the machine of material nature according to the results of their fruitive acts, they are driven around the polestar by the wind and will continue to be so until the end of creation. These planets float in the air within the vast sky, just as clouds with hundreds of tons of water float in the air or as the great syena eagles, due to the results of past activities, fly high in the sky and have no chance of falling to the ground.

                             PURPORT

   According to the description of this verse, the hundreds and thousands of stars and the great planets such as the sun, the moon, Venus, Mercury, Mars and Jupiter are not clustered together because of the law of gravity or any similar idea of the modern scientists. These planets and stars are all servants of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Govinda or Krsna, and according to His order they sit in their chariots and travel in their respective orbits. The orbits in which they move are compared to machines given by material nature to the operating deities of the stars and planets, who carry out the orders of the Supreme Personality of Godhead by revolving around Dhruvaloka, which is occupied by the great devotee Maharaja Dhruva. This is confirmed in the Brahma-samhita (5.52) as follows:

              yac-caksur esa savita sakala-grahanam
               raja samasta-sura-murtir asesa-tejah
             yasyajnaya bhramati sambhrta-kala-cakro
              govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami

   "I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, under whose control even the sun, which is considered to be the eye of the Lord, rotates within the fixed orbit of eternal time. The sun is the king of all planetary systems and has unlimited potency in heat and light." This verse from Brahma-samhita confirms that even the largest and most powerful planet, the sun, rotates within a fixed orbit, or kala-cakra, in obedience to the order of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This has nothing to do with gravity or any other imaginary laws created by the material scientists.
   Material scientists want to avoid the ruling government of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and therefore they imagine different conditions under which they suppose the planets move. The only condition, however, is the order of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. All the various predominating deities of the planets are persons, and the Supreme personality of Godhead is also a person. The Supreme Personality orders the subordinate persons, the demigods of various names, to carry out His supreme will. This fact is also confirmed in Bhagavad-gita (9.10), wherein Krsna says:

                      mayadhyaksena prakrtih
                       suyate sa-caracaram
                       hetunanena kaunteya
                       jagad viparivartate

   "This material nature is working under My direction, O son of Kunti, and it is producing all moving and unmoving beings. By its rule this manifestation is created and annihilated again and again."
   The orbits of the planets resemble the bodies in which all living entities are seated because they are both machines controlled by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. As Krsna says in Bhagavad-gita (18.61):

                      isvarah sarva-bhutanam
                     hrd-dese 'rjuna tisthati
                     bhramayan sarva-bhutani
                       yantrarudhani mayaya

   "The Supreme Lord is situated in everyone's heart, O Arjuna, and is directing the wanderings of all living entities, who are seated as on a machine, made of the material energy." The machine given by material nature--whether the machine of the body or the machine of the orbit, or kala-cakra--works according to the orders given by the Supreme personality of Godhead. The Supreme Personality of Godhead and material nature work together to maintain this great universe, and not only this universe but also the millions of other universes beyond this one.
  The question of how the planets and stars are floating is also answered in this verse. It is not because of the laws of gravity. Rather, the planets and stars are enabled to float by manipulations of the air. It is due to such manipulations that big, heavy clouds float and big eagles fly in the sky. Modern airplanes like the 747 jet aircraft work in a similar way: by controlling the air, they float high in the sky, resisting the tendency to fall to earth. Such adjustments of the air are all made possible by the cooperation of the principles of purusa (male) and prakrti (female). By the cooperation of material nature, which is considered to be prakrti, and the Supreme personality of Godhead, who is considered the purusa, all the affairs of the universe are going on nicely in their proper order. prakrti, material nature, is also described in the Brahma-samhita (5.44) as follows:

             srsti-sthiti-pralaya-sadhana-saktir eka
              chayeva yasya bhuvanani bibharti durga
               icchanurupam api yasya ca cestate sa
              govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami

   "The external potency, maya, who is of the nature of the shadow of the cit [spiritual] potency, is worshiped by all people as Durga, the creating, preserving and destroying agency of this mundane world. I adore the primeval Lord Govinda, in accordance with whose will Durga conducts herself." Material nature, the external energy of the Supreme Lord, is also known as Durga, or the female energy that protects the great fort of this universe. The word Durga also means fort. This universe is just like a great fort in which all the conditioned souls are kept, and they cannot leave it unless they are liberated by the mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Lord Himself declares in Bhagavad-gita (4.9):

                     janma karma ca me divyam
                     evam yo vetti tattvatah
                    tyaktva deham punar janma
                     naiti mam eti so 'rjuna

   "One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna." Thus simply by Krsna consciousness, by the mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one can be liberated, or, in other words, one can be released from the great fort of this universe and go outside it to the spiritual world.
   It is also significant that the predominating deities of even the greatest planets have been offered their exalted posts because of the very valuable pious activities they performed in previous births. This is indicated herein by the words karma-nirmita-gatayah. For example, as we have previously discussed, the moon is called jiva, which means that he is a living entity like us, but because of his pious activities he has been appointed to his post as the moon-god. Similarly, all the demigods are living entities who have been appointed to their various posts as the masters of the moon, the earth, Venus and so on because of their great service and pious acts. Only the predominating deity of the sun, Surya Narayana, is an incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Maharaja Dhruva, the predominating deity of Dhruvaloka, is also a living entity. Thus there are two kinds of entities--the supreme entity, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and the ordinary living entity, the jiva (nityo nityanam cetanas cetananam). All the demigods are engaged in the service of the Lord, and only by such an arrangement are the affairs of the universe going on.
   Regarding the great eagles mentioned in this verse, it is understood that there are eagles so big that they can prey on big elephants. They fly so high that they can travel from one planet to another. They start flying in one planet and land in another, and while in flight they lay eggs that hatch into other birds while falling through the air. In Sanskrit such eagles are called syena. Under the present circumstances, of course, we cannot see such huge birds, but at least we know of eagles that can capture monkeys and then throw them down to kill and eat them. Similarly, it is understood that there are gigantic birds that can carry off elephants, kill them and eat them.
   The two examples of the eagle and the cloud are sufficient to prove that flying and floating can be made possible through adjustments of the air. The planets, in a similar way, are floating because material nature adjusts the air according to the orders of the Supreme Lord. It could be said that these adjustments constitute the law of gravity, but in any case, one must accept that these laws are made by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The so-called scientists have no control over them. The scientists can falsely, improperly declare that there is no God, but this is not a fact.

Space crash: Commercial and Russian satellites collide in orbit

By John Matson

A commercial satellite collided with a Russian satellite over Siberia yesterday, yielding a cloud of fragments, according to a NASA scientist tracking space debris. The collision between the commercial satellite, belonging to the American communications firm Iridium, and the Russian satellite, believed to be defunct based on its advanced age, was the first of its kind, says Nicholas Johnson, chief scientist at the NASA Orbital Debris Program at Johnson Space Center in Houston. (A spokesperson for Iridium said a statement on the incident would be released shortly.)*

"In the past almost 20 years, there have been three other accidental collisions between objects in orbit, but they've all been very minor," Johnson says. "The most debris ever produced in an event was like four debris, and this is two intact spacecraft colliding, and we have hundreds of debris out there. We don't know exactly how many yet."

According to Johnson, the military sky-watchers who track satellites in orbit picked up the collision 490 miles (790 kilometers) above Earth Tuesday. "One of the things that they discovered yesterday afternoon ... was all of a sudden, where two satellites used to be, there were two clouds of debris," he says. The actual crash appears to have occurred just minutes before noon, Eastern Standard Time.

Johnson says NASA has already determined that the debris cloud poses "no significant new risk to the International Space Station." The next space shuttle mission, Which may launch as early as February 22 , should be in the clear as well, according to the space agency.

Such a collision between two intact spacecraft may be unprecedented, but it is not completely unexpected. "There are no rules of the road in space," Johnson says. "Anybody can fly anywhere they want." Even concerted efforts to track and guide spacecraft in orbit are subject to some uncertainty in trajectory estimates. At seven miles (11 kilometers) per second, Johnson says, "a little error means a lot."

*UPDATE (7:10 P.M.): Iridium's statement confirms the loss of the satellite, calling the crash an "extremely unusual, very low-probability event." The company says its network of 66 satellites plus in-orbit spares "is uniquely designed to withstand such an event, and the company is taking the necessary steps to replace the lost satellite with one of its in-orbit spare satellites."

Image credit: ©iStockphoto/cristimatei

Vedic Perspective

670122CC.SF                  Lectures
So one who does not know this simple fact, then he may go on indulging, wasting his time by meditation, by cultivation of knowledge, by exercise, by pressing nose, or so many things. He is not in the, actually in the factual position. So such persons, in spite of their austerity, in spite of their severe penances... Aruhya krcchrena param padam tatah. Although they realize that "Here is the Absolute Truth," or "Here is the light," or "Here is the essence," but because they do not engage in the devotional service of the Lord, or because they have no shelter under the lotus feet of the Lord, they fall down. Surely they fall down. The same example: you may go very high on a sputnik, ten thousand miles off from this earth, but if you have no shelter there, then naturally, you have to come back again here. Aruhya krcchrena param padam. You may go high, very high. That's all right. But if you don't approach the moon planet or the Venus planet, or any other planet for which you started But these people, they are so foolish they are taking simply clap by wandering in the space a few thousand miles. They think, "This is our perfection. Because I have come so high, and 20,000 miles off from the earth planet, and there is clapping, 'Oh, sputnik has gone...' " But where is your result? The result must be you must reach to the moon planet. Then That is minus. Similarly, all these exercises, all this cultivation of knowledge, if they do not reach to the lotus feet of Krsna, they are sure to come down again to these material activities. They are sure. Because they have no taste for Krsna, they have to They will come again for opening hospitals and so on, so many activities, material activities