By Salil Gewali
Most of us had gathered a lot of misinformation about our country which we have realized, albeit not too late. Thankfully the information from those biased sources which are still held as credible were not ossified enough not to be unlearnt. Ironically, whenever any sane voice is raised against the biased academia of this country then it is criticized as a vile attempt to distort the established history or as a show of insane chauvinism. Fearing disgrace most of us prefer to remain silent. But for how long?
Till about a decade ago the computation of “Pi” was ascribed to a renowned German mathematician Gottfried Leibniz which was in fact wrong. What if an Indian research scholar had claimed that “Pi” was first computed by Madhava instead of Leibniz? It would be like stirring up a hornet’s nest in India, if not in the West. Then Indian mathematicians would have lampooned the researcher. The very next day an uproar of condemnation would have come from the media – so much so that he might run the risk of losing his academic career and position.
Incidentally, the West produced a number of scholars like Marcus du Sautoy, the former President of the Mathematical Association, and others, who battled hard to establish that “Pi” was first mathematically calculated by Madhava of India in the 14th century, almost about three century earlier than by the German mathematician Leibniz. Only very recently has this fact been officially established and is now known to be “Madhava–Leibniz series”. This bold step cannot be taken by any Indian within the country because other Indian scholars would be foaming at the mouth. Discrediting the West is blasphemy to scholars here. Here people can proudly discredit their own country for which they usually find good support. That is why they disrespect their languages, they often take delight in disrespecting their heritage, and they snobbishly distrust their native values. I’m afraid, here in India, distrusting the nation’s glories requires no logic and trusting the foreign requires no validity!
Hence I must salute some of the world-renowned westerners who awakened me. Those dispassionate scholars flashed their spotlight towards India for “knowledge”. That flashlight was to dispel what I call my delusions. It changed my perspective of my country. The foremost among those who changed my mind was an opinion/quote by Robert Julius Oppenheimer (father of atomic bomb) which I read in a world-acclaimed book “The Tao of Physics” by a renowned American physicist Fritjof Capra. This atomic scientist, who learnt Sanskrit around 1933 to go deeper into the ancient text of India, proclaims, “What we shall find in Modern Physics is an exemplification, an encouragement and a refinement of old Indian wisdom”. Though it appeared ridiculous to me then, I could not dismiss it. Rather, this bold opinion triggered my intellect. Earlier I remained skeptical of the views expressed by Oppenheimer, and persistently “reasoned” that a scientist does not utter a single word unless he/she evaluates the fact with the mathematical algorithms. Meanwhile, I had overheard the claims of the father of Quantum Mechanics – Erwin Schrodinger, best known for his “Schrodinger Equation” — only one equation in the vast studies of Quantum Mechanic. That claim was in consonance with what my inner intuition vaguely held after reading the ancient text. Of course, it did not take me very long to figure out what so marvelled Schrodinger, and also other modern physicists like David Bohm and the Nobel laureate Brain David Josephson about India’s literature of wisdom.
The fundamental essence of the Vedanta that — “apparent multiplicity is an illusion and everything in the universe is from ONE WHOLE” was thoughtfully paraphrased by Schrodinger. The grand notion of the East, ‘MAKER AND THE MADE’ puzzled Schrodinger. After an in-depth research, observation and experimentation of probably not less than a decade, Schrodinger remarked: “The UNITY and CONTINUITY of Vedanta are reflected in the unity and continuity of ‘wave mechanics’. The incredible doctrine, “All in ONE” of Upanishads perfectly dovetailed with the new experimentation of matter or “particle” and it’s subtle “wave function”.
That’s why we have infinite species of flowers blooming in uncanny colors and fragrances simultaneously in multiple Earth-like planets; we see endless varieties of trees bearing fruits with amazing flavours and tastes; all celestial stars are rotating and revolving with perfect precision. Even one cell/atom of an object is subtly as complex as a factory. Just imagine how many cells there are in the trillions of objects in the cosmic ocean? What is most intriguing is that everything is in perfect order, perfect harmony and at peace. Therefore, how is it possible to separate the Divine from His boundless creations which are inherently divine themselves! So, the Vedantic proclamation that “Creator and Creation are ONE” makes much more sense to Schrodinger and his likes.
Sensing the grand meaning Schrodinger exclaimed in his masterpiece “What is life” : “The earliest records, to my knowledge, date back some 2500 years or more… the recognition ATMAN = BRAHMAN (the personal “self” equals the omnipresent, all-comprehending eternal SELF) was in Indian thought considered, far from being blasphemous, to represent the quintessence of deepest insight into the “HAPPENINGS” of the world. The striving of all the scholars of Vedanta was after having learnt to pronounce with their lips, to really assimilate in their minds this grandest of all thoughts.”
It’s worthwhile mentioning here that “The Unity and unified theory of Upanishads” was introduced to this great modern scientist by the front-ranking thinker of Germany – Arthur Schopenhauer. Albert Einstein always held Schopenhauer as one of his masters whose portrait he had decorated his study room with.
Finally, I salute the brilliant American historian Will Durant who, after serious studies of the history and philosophy of the East and the West, concluded: “India was the motherland of our “race”, and Sanskrit the mother of European languages. She was the Mother of our philosophy, of our mathematics, of the ideals embodied in Christianity, of self-government and democracy. Mother India is in many ways the Mother of us all.” Will Durant authored a world-acclaimed series ‘Story of Civilization’ in 11 volumes.
What is so weird is that this Mother India has given birth to children who consider themselves totally orphaned unless they follow and adopt the West and find fault with the East!