India Awakens presents: New book on physics and ancient Indian traditions
India Awakens is all set for preparation for its fourth conference in Kolkata, India: A seminar dedicated to understanding the relations between modern physics and Indian spiritual traditions.
We have been organizing seminars in Kolkata, mainly at the Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture (RMIC), Golpark, premiered in a virtual format in 2017. In February 2018, Giulio Prisco visited RMIC and gave a talk titled “Physics and the Indian Spiritual Tradition” (video, transcript).
Our working year begins with the release of a stunning book “Understanding Space,Time and Causality: Modern Physics and Ancient Indian Traditions” on the convergence of modern physics and ancient Indian traditions, authored by B.V Sreekantan and Sisir Roy, both Visiting Professors at the National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore.
The book, published by Routledge and available at Amazon, “examines issues related to the concepts of space, time and causality in the context of modern physics and ancient Indian traditions.”
“It looks at the similarity and convergence of these concepts of modern physics with those discussed in ancient Indian wisdom. The volume brings the methodologies of empiricism and introspection together to highlight the synergy between these two strands. It discusses wide-ranging themes including the quantum vacuum as ultimate reality, quantum entanglement and metaphysics of relations, identity and individuality, and dark energy and anti-matter as discussed in physics and in Indian philosophical schools like Vedanta, Yoga, Buddhist, Kashmiri Shaivism and Jaina Philosophy.”
One of the authors of the book, Prof. Sisir Roy, who is also a former Professor at the Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata, has always been encouraging and helping us in our efforts to understand the concepts of Akasha Consciousness through the lenses of science, so very much relevant to our studies and research on the (“Transhuman”) simulation theory and mind uploading. Roy noted that “India, which is becoming a hotbed of futuristic science and technology, could provide a more open and culturally supportive environment than the conservative US and Europe for the development of the new science.”
I am particularly moved by the Foreword by (Late) Prof. Baldev Raj, Former Director, National Institute of Advanced Studies, who has also been gracefully acknowledged in the book.
An excerpt from the Foreword:
“They raise many thought provoking issues in the context of the all pervading substratum (quantum vacuum) in comparison to concepts ‘Akasha’ and ‘Prana’ in Vedanta and ‘Spanda’ in Kashmiri Shaivism. They explain that when prana hits akasha, all the physical attributes emerge, the spanda or vibration being responsible for ‘creation’. The present authors, however, point out that in the case of quantum vacuum the concept of space-time is an integral part while in the case of Akasha there is no concept of space-time as such.”
The Foreword concludes:
“The book provides us a framework to think currently and also differently from the ancients, with arguably a purpose to give closer and meaningful engagement of mind to think and act.”
Cover image from Pxhere.
