Write articles for 'GatewayforIndia' .Other articles   .Hinduism  .Hinduism FAQ   .Vedas  .Upanishads  Philosophical and Scientific expositions of Extra-dimensionality of Supreme Power * Dr. Ashok Kumar Das & **Dr. Saradamani Das * *Head Department of Physics, Karimganj College; **Sr. Lecturer Department of Sanskrit, R.S. Girls’ College, Assam   ABSTRACT In Vedic age there are many philosophical references of supreme soul i.e. Paramatma or Parambrahma which are mentioned in various hymns of Vedas such as Purusa hymn, Hiranyagarbha hymn, Nasadiya hymn etc. In Modern Science, Physicists are also searching for existence of such supreme soul with their intelligence and proper experimentation. In this paper an attempt has been made to find scientific exposition of the existence of supreme soul by a technique termed ‘Mathematical dimensions’. INTRODUCTION This paper is an attempt to give scientific exposition of Supreme Power or Supreme Soul, what we call God or 'Paramatman'. The concept of 'Paramatman' (Supreme Power) is completely philosophical and only after some literary exercises one can understand the philosophical meaning of 'Paramatman'. In reality we cannot feel its existence as well as we can not give its interpretation in a general way. So to understand the existence of 'Something' or Someone having its reality outside our globe (who may be Paramatman or Supreme Power or Supreme Soul) the Scientific method known as Dimension can be applied. The concept of Dimensions is applied in many branches of Physics to solve many critical problems. Here also the same concept is being discussed as an attempt to solve the problem whether Supreme power (manifested as the concept of Gods) has the possibility to exist in extra dimensions or not. DESCRIPTION We take the dual aspects together - one is 'Philosophical' and the other is 'Scientific'. Philosophical exposition Let me give some philosophical references of Supreme Soul or Supreme Power or God as stated in the Vedas. In the Vedas and Upanishads we have lots of references of Supreme Power such as the hymns of Viswakarman (X.81 and 82), Hiranyagarbha (X.121), Purusa, Aitareya Upanisad, Prasna Upanisad (III.8; VI.4) etc. In the hymns of RV (X.81 and 82), Viswakarman, as creator, is stated as a supreme power, divine architect personified. Vedic seers believe that there was someone who had created the Universe from vacuum (Shunya) (X.81.3). The Hiranyagarbha Sukta (R.V.X 121) of the Rig Veda declares that God manifested Himself in the beginning as the creator of the Universe, encompassing all things, including everything within Himself, the collective totality, as it were, of the whole of creation, animating it as the Supreme Intelligence. The whole universe, all that has been and all that shall be, is but a partial manifestation of this supreme Deity. In the renowned Purusa-Sukta (R.V.X.90.) we find, described in clear terms, how the whole universe with its animate and inanimate divisions, has emanated from Virat Purusha, and is sustained by the Primeval Being, Purusa. The Aitareya Upanisad (I.1.1; I.1.2) states that in the beginning there was but the absolute Self or Brahman or Atman alone. There was nothing whatsoever. If we look at the Nasadiya hymns (RV.X.129) we see that there is a clear indication of Supreme Soul/Atman who has created this universe out of nothing. The supreme Atman has manifested itself as the objective Universe from the One side and subjective individuals on the other side, in which process, factors which are effects of God’s creation become causes of individual’s perception by a reversal of the process. Śankarāchārya, the famous commentator of Vedic literature, says that the term Atman indicates the “Supreme Reality, omniscient, all-powerful, free from all phenomenal characters such as hunger and thirst, eternal, pure, illumined, free, unborn, undecaying, deathless, immortal, fearless, and non-dual.” The Prasna Upanisad (III.8; VI.4)* *says that God is the Supreme Prajapati or Creator, in which are blended both the matter and energy of the Universe. In the Vedas the Supreme power is explained as "unmanifested, unthinkable and unchanging". He is "invisible, unborn, eternal, permanent, devoid of parts or quality"; "He cannot be felt by our five senses, and is also actionless" (Shaantiparva-Mahabharata). It is the "cloud of unknowing" or what is called "super-luminous darkness". "He is the God who is in fire and in water who pervades the entire universe; He who is inside every living being, to Him we make our obeisance again and again". In the Vedas it is also stated that God is the Supreme Power that creates and controls the Universe. God exists as the basic material of all matters of the universe and the core of the essential energy that moves all these matters in an order. He remains manifest as the inherent force and energy that sustains the Universe and all the planets and all the plants and animals and the humans. He exists as the very base of the life energy like the very breath of life as the force behind the light, gravity, and electromagnetic energy. God is an infinite conscious thing that can be felt inside the soul by pure mind through meditation and prayers with faith. Hence God cannot be defined in words and cannot be seen with fleshy eyes. The Vedas show us the way to visualize (feel) God through meditation. According to the Vedas the Supreme Power is explained as: "One, who creates, sustains and destroys the Universe, One who gives justification to our "Karmas" and One who provides "intelligence" is known as "GOD". We have to share this knowledge, trust the words of our Gurus and their experience, without blindly following a dogma but following with wisdom and intuition. Scientific Exposition But from the scientific point of view we can not accept the philosophical notion of existence of anything such as Supreme Power or Supreme Soul who is controlling the universe without knowing its reality. If it has no real existence and has no scientific basis then nobody will accept the notion of existence of Supreme Power or God whatever it may be. But the question penetrating our mind is that whether there exists anything or anyone which may have created our universe and who is controlling everything too, keeping the philosophical or Vedic exposition of various verses in mind. The answer to this problem can be given philosophically but this exposition may remain confined within a very small section of people who understand philosophy only and have blind faithfulness in God’s concept or Supreme power but this will not be acceptable to everyone of our society. For making it more reasonable and acceptable to each and every contingent of our society let us give some scientific touch to it or let us explain the problem a bit scientifically with the help of the technique termed as ‘Physical Dimensions’. Now what are dimensions? In physics we take the dimensions as the powers to which physical quantities are raised. In a simple way we can define dimension as the size or shape of a body or an object. Dimensions may be classified as one, two, or three. When we consider length of an object only we call it one dimensional, when length and breadth are considered we have two dimensional objects and length, breadth and height or width together called three dimensional. We think this definition is easy to understand. Now suppose we have a one dimensional living organism i.e. an organism which is very small in size just like a point e.g. an ant say, though it is not a one dimensional organism still we can consider it for the sake of our convenience. Now suppose this one dimensional ant is moving along a line only (because it has only length) as generally observed in our houses. This ant is not in a position to tilt/move this way or that way as it is assumed one dimensional organism i.e. it cannot observe or even perceive anything outside this line or its dimension. Now let us take the case of a higher dimensional organism i.e. two dimensional organism i.e. an organism having length and breadth e.g. a lizard which can move on the wall or floor or black board as these are all two dimensional objects. We see that the lizard can move across the wall or floor or black board easily but it can not move in the space which is three dimensional. We will now witness a very interesting incident that may occur if the lizard lies across the line of movement of the ant. The ant will see that something lies along its path so it may cross over the lizard or may not whatever the case may be. Now the question is whether the ant sees the whole portion of lizard’s body or only a linear section of the lizard. Of course a linear section which lies along the line. As a result the ant would not be able to perceive the actual configuration or dimension of the lizard. But at the same time the two dimensional lizard would be able to observe the whole configuration of the ant. In the third case let us consider the case of three dimensional living organisms such as the most intelligent creation of the creator i.e. a man. This three dimensional man can observe every incidents occurring in his dimension or dimension of lower order. So the conclusion from this discussion of dimension is that an organism having higher dimension can observe everything of his dimension as well as dimension of lower order. But it cannot observe the whole size or shape of the organism having dimension higher than that. Now if the one dimensional or two dimensional organism intends to see the three dimensional organism it would not be possible to see it wholly rather it would observe one dimensional or two dimensional view of the organism as the case may be. Suppose the lizard wants to observe me wholly. Is it possible? No, it is not possible. But it can observe me if I go to its dimension and it is possible by projecting my image on the wall using a torch light. Now the lizard will see only a partial image which is not my complete picture. So this is the concept of dimension. And if we try to solve our problem with this concept of dimension we will be in a more comfortable position rather than declining that there exists nothing in higher dimension. Thus there is a possibility of existing something/someone in higher dimension having intelligence higher than us and the existence of this higher dimensionality may be referred to as Supreme soul/ Supreme Power/God. The great Rishis or Monks or Sages of different times received this Divine Vision of Supreme Soul or Supreme Power through their intuitive powers of intense meditations. Now our question is whether they have seen the whole image of the divine power or God. Now we consider that an answer to this problem is plausible. The question is whether they are same. The object may be the same but the signals/lights coming from extra or higher dimensional object are not same because the object is not being focused with same inclination in all the times. Sometimes it may be focused at 90 degree, sometimes at 45 degree or 30 degree. So the view of the images will be different. CONCLUSION In conclusion we may consider in the light of Dimension that there may be existing Someone/Something ‘Supreme Power’ or ‘Supreme Soul’ (rather than declining the possibility of the existence of the supreme intelligence) that is controlling everything beyond our dimension. But pure scientific analysis of our perceived knowledge alone is not enough. The scope of perception with analysis and reasoning is very limited. One will have to obtain true Divine knowledge through spiritual insight or intuition to understand the concept of this reality. While Vijñãna or science is the knowledge of the phenomenal Universe of the manifest forms of God, Jñãna is the realization of the formless Immanent Supreme. So the notion of supreme power or supreme soul/Paramatman which was discussed thousands of years back in the Vedas are the dimensional speculation expressed in ten thousands verses of the Rig Veda in different suktas. To conclude we submit that the different forms of the gods are the manifestations of a multidimensional aspect. References 1. Sonatakkae N.S. & Kalukar C.G., Pune : Rig Veda Samhita 2. Arya Ravi Prakash & Joshi K.L.:Vol.III & IV : Parimal Publications, Delhi : Rig Veda Samhita 3. Foley, Leo (1962):Cosmology : Philosophical and Scientific, The Bruce Publishing Company 4. Freedman,Wendy L (1992):The Expansion rate and Science of the Universe, Scientific American