Skip to main content

Atom to God

The physicist J. J. Thompson discovered electrons, the smallest known elementary particle until the advent of quantum physics, in 1897. He used a cathode ray tube to "detect" the presence of electrons but no microscope exists which can see the subatomic particles like proton, electron or neutron. All these subatomic particles make up an atom. The atom is million times smaller the thickest human hair. Quantum physics has further discovered subatomic particles such as quark, lepton and gauge bosons. Scientists are using a Large Hadron Collider at a cost of $9 billion, with a diameter of twenty seven kilometers; it is a particle accelerator which uses electric fields to propel subatomic particles at very high speeds so as to collide such beams of particles with an intend to study smaller particles formed as a result of the collision. But no scientist would ever see any subatomic particle with his or her naked eye.

The scientists consider universe to be very large and of infinite volume. The observable matter is spread across a distance of at least 93 billion light years. One light year is the distance light travelling at a speed of 300000000 meter per second travels in a time of one Julian year. The distance comes out to be 10 trillion kilometers. With our naked eyes we can see a few thousands stars in the sky during a clear night which are part of our own galaxy, Milky Way. Scientists have discovered millions of such galaxies and probably millions are yet to be discovered. The furthest a man has traveled in space is to Moon; that's just a distance of about 50 million kilometers.

To sum up our knowledge about the size of universe, nature of our body & mind, the matter that makes us and everything around is very limited. We haven't yet discovered knowledge the size of drop in an infinite ocean of wisdom and knowledge. Everyday during our work and personal life we come in touch with people who are more smarter, more knowledgeable, more conscious about themselves and world around them. In our school days we believed atom exists, the speed of light is approximately 300000000 meter per second, we believed Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle; we still believe in the diagnosis of a doctor but we hesitate to believe in the knowledge & wisdom of our religious scriptures. When a Saint talks about Who is God, His powers, His wisdom, His love we hesitate to believe in Saints' word. We begin to evaluate the Saints' knowledge on the basis of our knowledge. Despite the fact that we know the flaws in our knowledge and wisdom. The openness of our mind disappears or reduces when we listen to a Saint. We are ready to believe in atoms, the existence of which has been hypothesized by a few scientists but we are not ready to believe that God is omnipotent, omnipresence, present in our heart in a form whose size is smallest than the smallest subatomic particle. The mind which is in "open" mode while listening to worldly informations changes to "denial" mode when listening to Saints' word.

We have to realize that we may be twenty or forty or sixty years of age, we may have picked a master's or doctorate degree, we may have learned to manage hundreds of people in a team but in the field of spiritualism we are still in the kindergarten. As a young person we believe in lots of facts and as we grow we evaluate them and this leads to enlightenment of our intellect. Similarly we have to believe in Saints' word, practice his lessons and as we are enlightened by the grace of God we will be able to make better judgement. But until the spiritual enlightenment happens we should be in the "open & accept" mode and evaluate later when we have practiced enough to make a sound judgement & progress.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Scuba Diving 36 feet deep in Goa (Surreal but Nice!)

"Surreal but nice" that's what Hugh Grant's character managed to blurt out, mesmerized by the beauty of Julia Roberts (in the movie Notting Hill ). And this was the exact thought that was running in my mind as I was rising from a depth of over 35 feet under water in the Arabian Sea near Goa, India. I had just finished my first dive (rather second dive of my first dive) with grouper fish, tailor fish - and many more - knelt at the bottom of the ocean floor and touched a ship wreck that sunk more than sixty years ago! It was a surreal experience that has left me with a feeling of self-satisfaction as well as endless curiosity. The two feelings very rarely take a house together in my mind. Probably the last time they shacked up together was when I got an admit for my Master's from State University of New York . The feeling of gliding underwater among the fishes, water pressure trying to burst your ears drums, flying over huge boulders of rocks under sea; like an un...

How not to read History? Avoiding Sophistry, Deceitfulness, and Irrational Narratives

Introduction A few days ago I wrote on how a contemporary Dharmic mind is enslaved with various narratives meant to degrade the tradition of Dharmic spiritualism (or Hinduism) and relegate the spiritual path as non-sensical, patriarchal, and regressive (i.e. against modernity). I've three examples below that show the eagerness in contemporary conversations to push this narrative. Since free speech and vaad (Sanskrit: वाद, discussion) are two-way streets so it's well within my right to share my opinion based on sound reasoning and well-established examples. And my opinion doesn't rely on the play of words (Sanskrit: सामान्य छल, quibble)) or a mere attack on the opposition (Sanskrit: वितंडा, cavil/sophistry). Just a side note, these categorizations are based on the ancient  Nyaya philosophy composed by Akṣapāda Gautama between the 6th century BCE and the 2nd century CE. Example 1 -  वितंडा / Sophistry Buddhism and Sanatana Dharma have a long history of coexistence and assim...

9000 days of destiny

I was wondering about my doubts and prejudices I have at this stage of life. It is in human trait to suffer from these emotions. But history has given enough evidence to form a case when humans have risen beyond their flaws I recently saw the movie "Invictus". It is based on the true events that lead to South African national rugby team, the Springboks, winning the 1995 rugby world cup. The movie shows how two persons from completely different backgrounds rose above their beliefs and prejudices to unite a country broken by apartheid. These were South African President Mr. Nelson Mandela and the captain of the South African rugby team Francois Pienaar.  Clint Eastwood directed this movie. It stars Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela and Matt Damon as Francois Pienaar. The movie is thought provoking and inspires you to dream big. It in its' limited time depicts the segregation created by decades of apartheid in South Africa. However I was captivated by the song played ...