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The core foundation of Hindu belief is that Vedas contain source of all knowledge – physical or metaphysical. Vedas and Puranas, which were revealed more than 5,000 years ago, mentioned facts only recently discovered or proven by scientists.
For a quick glimpse at what unsung surprises may lie in the Vedas, let us consider these renditions from the Yajur-veda and Atharva-veda, for instance.
” O disciple, a student in the science of government, sail in oceans in steamers, fly in the air in airplanes, know God the creator through the Vedas, control thy breath through yoga, through astronomy know the functions of day and night, know all the Vedas, Rig, Yajur, Sama and Atharva, by means of their constituent parts.”
” Through astronomy, geography, and geology, go thou to all the different countries of the world under the sun. Mayest thou attain through good preaching to statesmanship and artisanship, through medical science obtain knowledge of all medicinal plants, through hydrostatics learn the different uses of water, through electricity understand the working of ever lustrous lightening. Carry out my instructions willingly.” (Yajur-veda 6.21).
” O royal skilled engineer, construct sea-boats, propelled on water by our experts, and airplanes, moving and flying upward, after the clouds that reside in the mid-region, that fly as the boats move on the sea, that fly high over and below the watery clouds. Be thou, thereby, prosperous in this world created by the Omnipresent God, and flier in both air and lightning.” (Yajur-veda 10.19).
” The atomic energy fissions the ninety-nine elements, covering its path by the bombardments of neutrons without let or hindrance. Desirous of stalking the head, ie. The chief part of the swift power, hidden in the mass of molecular adjustments of the elements, this atomic energy approaches it in the very act of fissioning it by the above-noted bombardment. Herein, verily the scientists know the similar hidden striking force of the rays of the sun working in the orbit of the moon.” (Atharva-veda 20.41.1-3).
Some of the scientific statements as written in Vedas are :
Rig Veda 8.12.28
“O Indra! by putting forth your mighty rays, which possess the qualities of gravitation and attraction-illumination and motion – keep up the entire universe in order through the Power of your attraction.”
Rig Veda 1.6.5, Rig Veda 8.12.30
“O God, You have created this Sun. You possess infinite power. You are upholding the sun and other spheres and render them steadfast by your power of attraction.”
Rig Veda 5.40.5
“O Sun! When you are blocked by the one whom you gifted your own light (moon), then earth gets scared by sudden darkness.”
3.LIGHT OF MOON
Rig Veda 1.84.15
“The moving moon always receives a ray of light from sun”
4.MOTION OF EARTH
Rig Veda 10.22.14
“This earth is devoid of hands and legs, yet it moves ahead. All the objects over the earth also move with it. It moves around the sun.
5.SPHERECITY OF EARTH
The existence of rather advanced concepts like the sphericity of Earth and the cause of seasons is quite clear in Vedic literature. For example, the Aitareya Brahmana (3.44) declares:
The Sun does never set nor rise. When people think the Sun is setting it is not so. For after having arrived at the end of the day it makes itself produce two opposite effects, making night to what is below and day to what is on the other side.Having reached the end of the night, it makes itself produce two opposite effects, making day to what is below and night to what is on the other side. In fact, the Sun never sets.
‘Shape of Earth is like an Oblate Spheroid. (Rig Veda 30.4.5)
‘Earth is flattened at the poles’ (Markandeya Purana 54.12)
6.BLUE COLOUR OF SKY
“Blue Sky is Nothing but scattered sunlight” (Markandeya Purana 78.8)
Now lets see what Modern Science says about it:
The blue color of the sky is due to Rayleigh scattering. As light moves through the atmosphere, most of the longer wavelengths pass straight through. Little of the red, orange and yellow light is affected by the air.
7.THEORY OF RELATIVITY AND TIME
“To the philosophers of India , Relativity is no new discovery, just as the concept of light years is no matter for astonishment to people used to thinking of time in millions of kalpas, (A kalpa is about 4,320,000 years). The fact that the wise men of India have not been concerned with technological applications of this knowledge arises from the circumstance that technology is but one of innumerable ways of applying it.”
It is, indeed, a remarkable circumstance that when Western civilization discovers Relativity it applies it to the manufacture of atom-bombs, whereas Oriental civilization applies it to the development of new states of consciousness.”
(source: Spiritual Practices of India – By Frederic Spiegelberg Introduction by Alan Watts p. 8-9).
8.ATOMISM AND QUANTUM PHYSICS
The Indians came closest to modern ideas of atomism, quantum physics, and other current theories. India developed very early, enduring atomist theories of matter. Possibly Greek atomistic thought was influenced by India, via the Persian civilization. The Rig-Veda, is the first Indian literature to set down ideas resembling universal natural laws. Cosmic law is connected with cosmic light, with gods, and, later, specifically with Brahman. It was the Vedic Aryans who gave the world some of the earliest philosophical texts on the makeup of matter and the theoretical underpinnings for the chemical makeup of minerals. Sanskrit Vedas from thousands of years before Christ implied that matter could not be created, and that the universe had created itself. Reflecting this, in his Vaiseshika philosophy, Kanada (600 B. C) claimed that elements could not be destroyed. Kanada’s life is somewhat a mysterious, but his name is said to mean “one who eats particle or grain” likely referring to his theory that basic particles mix together as the building blocks for all matter. Two, three, four, or more of these elements would combine, just as we conceive of atoms doing. The Greeks would not stumble on this concept for another century.”
Renowned Thinkers Who Valued the Knowledge in Vedas
Arthur Schopenhauer, the famed German philosopher and writer, wrote that: “I encounter [in the Vedas] deep, original, lofty thoughts… suffused with a high and holy seriousness.”
The well-known early American writer Ralph Waldo Emerson, read the Vedas daily. Emerson wrote: “I owed a magnificent day to the Bhagavat-Gita”
Henry David Thoreau said: “In the morning I bathe my intellect in the stupendous philosophy of the Bhagavad Gita… in comparison with which… our modern world and its literature seems puny and trivial.”
So great were Emerson and Thoreau’s appreciation of Vedantic literatures that they became known as the American transcendentalists. Their writings contain many thoughts from Vedic Philosophy.
Another famous personality who spoke of the greatness of the Vedas were: Alfred North Whitehead (British mathematician, logician and philosopher), who stated that: “Vedanta is the most impressive metaphysics the human mind has conceived.”
Julius Robert Oppenheimer, the principle developer of the atomic bomb, stated that “The Vedas are the greatest privilege of this century.” During the explosion of the first atomic bomb, Oppenheimer quoted several Bhagavad-gita verses from the 11th chapter, such as:
“Death I am, cause of destruction of the worlds…”
When Oppenheimer was asked if this is the first nuclear explosion, he significantly replied: “Yes, in modern times,” implying that ancient nuclear explosions may have previously occurred.
Friedrich Maximilian Miller (1823-1900) was a German philologist and Orientalist. He repeatedly drew attention to the uniqueness of the Vedas and awakened interest in his book In History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature’ (p. 557) observed:
” In the Rig-Veda we shall have before us more real antiquity than in all the inscriptions of Egypt or Ninevah….the Veda is the oldest book in existence….”
The late scientist, Carl Sagan, in his book, Cosmos asserts that the Dance of Nataraja, Tandava signifies the cycle of evolution and destruction of the cosmic universe (Big Bang Theory).
“It is the clearest image of the activity of God which any art or religion can boast of.” Modern physics has shown that the rhythm of creation and destruction is not only manifest in the turn of the seasons and in the birth and death of all living creatures, but also the very essence of inorganic matter.
The above are just few examples showing the scientific foreknowledge of Vedas and Puranas. Vedas are treasures of wisdom which are not yet fully explored.
Hindu tradition sometimes holds that all knowledge is pre-existing, to be “recovered” rather than “discovered”, and is echoed can be found in the Vedas and other ancient texts.
In 1900, Vivekananda said:
“It seems to us, and to all who care to know, that the conclusions of modern science are the very conclusions the Vedanta reached ages ago; only, in modern science they are written in the language of matter.”