Oct 03, 2024
Oct 03, 2024
It was anticipated for a long long time and now it has really happened. Existence of one of the most fundamental particles – rightly called the God particle – is finally established beyond any doubt. Our elite scientific community, that consists of some of the most intelligent human beings alive today, has given their seal of approval to the existence of Higgs-Boson particle that ‘substantiates’ everything in this universe by giving them mass. It is present in everything and that includes you, me, them and whatever one can think of. It not only means that the God particle is present in everything, but also that nothing is possible without the presence of God particle. For the ardent followers of Advaita philosophy in Hindu Sanatana Dharma (HSD) the new discovery is nothing surprising. The present finding merely substantiates what Adi Sankara propounded hundreds of years back.
The conflict or synergy that exists between religions and Science is reaching its pinnacle very soon. We understand from the scientists at CERN that it will take a few more months to put their final seal on God particle. But as and when it happens, the fundamentals of modern Science will reach a complete synergy with the concept of Advaita that was propounded by Sage Adi Sankara. At the end of a purely impartial, objective and sincere pursuit in search of the absolute truth, a team of most modern particle physicists, using the most modern equipment that costs billions of dollars, have come to the very same conclusion as it was conceived in the mind of Adi Sankara who is rightly considered as the most intelligent human being that ever lived. Mankind is now seeing the absolute truth in simple terms with very naked eyes.
Sankara’s Advaita
Unlike other religious philosophies, Hindu Sanatana Dharma (HSD) has always encouraged freedom of expression and reformation. The process is still going on. But its latest watermark that is unsurpassed by any subsequent reforms is Sankara’s Advaita theory. In retrospect, it looks as if it was the final culmination of a long evolutionary process in HSD that spanned over atleast 5000 years. In very simple terms Sankara was stating the obvious about an omnipresent and omnipotent God, when he said that He is present everywhere. By one stroke of logical explanation, he made all concepts and ideas about an external God, who is monitoring and judging others, completely illogical and even irrelevant. The present confirmation of an omnipresent God particle reaffirms Sankara’s theory and all the religious philosophies (mostly Semitic) built on foundations of an external God lies completely shattered. I wonder whether the Semitic religions have any future at all outside its hardcore fundamentalist followers, who might hang on for political reasons.
Sankara not only propounded the Advaita theory but went on to propose that all that we perceive is just an illusion (Maya). While there are many who have challenged the Maya theory, there has been almost complete acceptance of Advaita theory among all the saints and sages in HSD in the last few centuries. In modern times, Ramana Maharshi, Swami Vivekanand, Saibaba, Mata Amritanandamayi etc., have reasserted the Advaita principle repeatedly. Adi Sankara came on the scene when HSD was on the decline due to the revolutions unleashed by Lord Budha and Jaina. Rituals and social practices among the ordinary HSD practitioners had become unsustainable and it was natural to have revolutionaries like Lord Budha to challenge the system. But both the revolutions were unsuccessful because its theory appeals to only our logic and not to our eternal rational quest for a God. Sankara’s Advaita fulfilled all such requirements.
HSD Substantiated
With the final seal of approval on Adviata and God particle, the stature of HSD as a religious ideology is going to reach greater heights. It is perhaps the only current religious philosophy that would be acceptable to the entire spectrum of mankind spread between ordinary basic believers and most intelligent theoretical physicists. What is present in everything is called God and when such an element of God is present in all humans, how can an external God, made up of the very same God particles, sit in judgment over any of our deeds? Any idea of an external God monitoring, rewarding and punishing humans sounds absolutely ridiculous. He, who is within us, cannot reward us for our good deeds and punish us for our heinous crimes. If we are at fault, He is also equally responsible and how can He blame us and punish us for the same? It is even idiotic to think of such a God who enjoys all power but takes no responsibility. Ever since the advent of Advaita, the concept of God is quite different in HSD.
In Advaitic HSD, God is really present everywhere and He (in fact it is She) is omnipotent. If we take only the human beings, there is God present in all of us, but in varying intensities. God particles give only the quantitative mass to all of us, but there is a qualitative element as well. It means that the heavier ones among us may not necessarily be more Godly than lightweights. It is left to the individual’s efforts to refine the quality of God within each of us and reach a state of ultimate oneness with him. HSD scriptures give enough and more ideas and suggestions about practices to be adopted in order to reach Him. All that is lacking in most of us is the will and dedication to go for it. But those who have opted and acted have always been rewarded with the ultimate bliss.
India can be rightfully proud about the involvement of two of its greatest sons in the unraveling of this greatest mystery of mankind. If the theory of Advaita was propounded by Adi Sankara, it was Prof. Satyendra Nath Bose who propounded the theory of bosons in modern times. There is nothing surprising because only a profound civilization like the HSD could have produced such outstanding thinkers and scientists. Both might have been merely following their conscience which is an integral part of one of the greatest civilizations with an accumulated wisdom of generations of sages and saints who always encouraged freedom of thought, enquiry and expression. Jai Ho Bharat.
06-Jul-2012
More by : J. Ajithkumar
Agree with Harshad. Shankara meant the inherent godliness in everything animate and inanimate, living and non-being. In a truly Advaitic sense, there are no non-living beings. Everyhing/Every-being is conciousness. Only in some cases the manifestation of conciousness is more intense than others. All particles in the whole universe are imbued with divine essence. At the physical level also it is true. After all, this material universe is made up of electrons and protons and various kinds of energies etc etc... Shankara succedded in throwing out the decaded Buddhism , no doubt. But in the current world, there are more dwaitins than advaitins. Very few people practice advaita in the real sense. Advaita is merely treated as intellectual pursuit. Lord Buddha's life was not just to challenge the old ritualistic hinduism. Buddha made religion/spirituality practiceable for all cross-sections of the society, which was sorely missing from the Indian system for milleniums. Unfortunately our ritualistic Hindu ancestors had made of mess of our great religion. It must be noted that similar to Buddha , Shankara too was against rituals. In one of his writings (is it Century of Verses ?? ) he says 'Rituals does not grant emancipation to man because it cannot remove ignorance, since Ignorance and Rituals are not mutually contradictory. Only Knowledge can remove ignorance and therefore True Knowledge is the cause for liberation'. Also calling Buddha's revolution unsuccessful is ridiculous. Until the 18th or 19th century , Buddhism was the most popular religion with most number of followers in the whole world. Now Christianity is the most popular. |
I think new particle just gives substance and not Godliness. It cannot be called God particle. What Sankara meant was Godliness is present everywhere. Godliness is present even in vacuum where there are no particles. Godliness is truly internal. It connects and we feel its presence there - within or without. When not connected it is not there. It is present yet not there. God is a there in a stone idol and you, in that moment when you connect. Not there as you disconnect. It is just a stone. |