Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Science and Hinduism

While we respect the findings of scientists, we are not even aware of what has been said in our religious literature about scientific facts.
Some of them are : 


Evaporation :     
Science tells us that water evaporates and turns clouds into rain bearing ones. But the same scientific fact is mentioned in ancient religious literature too. There is a verse which talks of how sea water evaporates and makes clouds heavy with moisture. It was mentioned in the poem sung by one of the Alwars "Kothai Nachiyar" popularly named as Aandal 


"aazhi mazhai(k) kaNNaa onRu nee kai karavEl
aazhi uL pukku mugandhu kodu aarthu ERi
oozhi mudhalvan uruvam pOl mey kaRuththu(p)
paazhiy am thOLudai(p) paRpanaaban kaiyil
aazhi pOl minni valamburi pOl ninRu adhirndhu
thaazhaadhE saarnga mudhaiththa sara mazhai pOl
vaazha ulaginil peydhidaay naangaLum
maargazhi neeraada magizhndhElOr embaavaay"
Meaning :
Oh Lord VaruNA, you the presiding deity of ocean-like burst of rains! you please do not make your gift small. We request you (in the form of clouds) to pour plenty of rains in the world; first you should get into the womb of the deep seas and take excessive water make thunder and go higher up (in the sky); your body should become as dark as that of the primordial cause of world (Oozhi Mudalvan= Jagath Kaarana BhUthan); you should become resplendent with lightning, just as the dazzling discus (Aazhi=Chakram) held on the hand of Lord PadmanAbha with broad shoulders; you should make a thunderous roar like the conch (Paanchajanyam) held by Lord; you should bring forth rains in abundance without any cessation, --the rains just like the shower of arrows coming forth in succession from the bow (Saarangam) of the Lord; your rains should be for the good of the world, to flourish; and, through your rains, we will have plenty of water and also happily take the ceremonial bath during Maarghazhi month. Lord VishNu's important weapons -- discus, conch and bow are cited here, in a form of invocation as it were; and Lord PadmanAbha is indicated as the agathkAraNan-- the primordial cause).th. Lord VishNu's important weapons -- discus, conch and bow are cited here, in a form of invocation as it were; and Lord PadmanAbha is indicated as the agathkAraNan-- the primordial cause).


Division of Atoms :


Again scientists for a long time said the atom could not be split, until it was proved otherwise. But centuries ago, the Tamil poet Kambar wrote of the splitting of the atom in his Kamba Ramayanam. He writes about Lord Narayana’s Narasimha avatara and recounts how Prahlada is taunted by his father Hiranyakasipu. The asura, Hiranyakasipu, asks his son Prahlada where Lord Narayana resides. Prahlada replies that He resides not only in an atom, but if an atom were to be split into a hundred parts, He would still be in every one of those parts. Thus an ancient Tamil treatise talks of the splitting of the atom, thereby showing that the ancient Tamils were aware of the possibility that an atom could be split. 

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