The beginning of Indian scientific thought are traced to the same source
as those of Indian metaphysics and religion, the Rig Veda. The Vedas,
being essentially works of poetic imagination, cannot be expected to
contain much spirit of scientific inquiry, yet there are remarkable
flashes of intuitive conjecture and reason.
They explain the nature of the universe, of life, while admitting that
Creation itself is the one unknowable mystery.
To the Vedic sages, creation indicated that point before which there was
no Creator, the line between indefinable nothingness and something
delineated by attributes and function, at least. Like the moment before
the Big Bang Theory. These concepts preoccupy high wisdom, the Truth far
removed from mere religion.
Indeed, in one of the most remarkable of the Vedic hymns - In the Hymn
of Creation (Rig Veda 10.129.3) a searching inquiry as to the origin of
the world is made; it is certainly the earliest known record of
philosophic doubt.
" There was not non-existent nor existent;
There was no realm of air, no sky beyond it.
What covered it, and where? and what gave shelter?
Was water there, unfathomed depth
of water?
Yet the Vedas go further, being philosophy, or really spiritual
sciences, rather than myth. The hymn goes to say that in the beginning
there was neither death nor immortality, nor day nor night. All that
existed was void and formless. Then arose, desire, the primal seed and
germ of spirit. But,
Who verily knows and
who can declare it,
Whence it was born and
Whence comes this creation?
The gods are later than this
world's production
Who knows, then, whence it
first came into being?
Vedas are the most sophisticated, most profoundly beautiful, and most
complete presentations of what Aldous Huxley termed the “perennial
philosophy” that is at the core of all religions. In modern academia, of
course, there is not supposed to be any “ancient wisdom”. In this hymn,
which contains the essence of monism, can be seen a representation of
the most advanced theory of creation. The germ of free speculation and
skepticism were already present in the Rig Veda.
(source: The Empire of the Soul: Some Journeys into India - By
Paul William Roberts published by Riverhead Books ASIN: 1573226351
begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 1573226351 end_of_the_skype_highlighting
p 300-301).
The statue of Nataraja (dance pose of Lord Shiva) is a well known
example for the artistic, scientific and philosophical significance of
Hinduism.
Freedom was born in India. Doubt, the mother of freedom, was born with
the Rig Veda, the most sacred scripture of the Hindus which has the
following:
What are words, and what are mortal thoughts!
Who is there who truly knows and who can say,|
Whence this unfathomed world
And from what cause!
Freedom of the mind created the wondrous world of the intellect — the
world of Hindu rishis, philosophers, poets and dramatists. It was the
freedom of the mind and freedom of the senses which led to India’s
diversity and contributed to the richness of its civilization. No other
civilization, not even that of the Greeks, could have enjoyed the
freedom that we had. We have to remember, Socrates was forced to drink
hemlock! The Inquisition burnt the Christian apostates at the stake and
Islam beheaded dissenters.
Watch Carl Sagan and Hindu cosmology video on youtube.
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